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Dawn Staley: ‘I don’t have any interest’ in Virginia job

By Howard Megdal

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 04: South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley celebrates with the team in cutting down the net after winning the SEC championship during the fourth period between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs in a SEC Women's Tournament game on on March 4, 2018, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. (Photo by Steve Roberts/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 04: South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley celebrates with the team in cutting down the net after winning the SEC championship during the fourth period between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs in a SEC Women's Tournament game on on March 4, 2018, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. (Photo by Steve Roberts/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The architect of the women’s basketball program at University of Virginia as a player, Dawn Staley, shot down any efforts to connect her to the Cavaliers’ head coaching job on Wednesday.

“No, I don’t have any interest in Virginia,” Staley told The State’s Greg Hadley on Wednesday.

The questions came after The State reported earlier this week that Virginia planned to reach out to Staley, following the retirement of Joanne Boyle. The decision from Boyle was an unexpected one, with Boyle the only coach of Virginia since Staley’s own coach, Debbie Ryan, retired herself back in 2011.

In another bit of confluence, Boyle’s final game as Virginia coach came in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament—a loss to Staley’s South Carolina.

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Staley also noted to Hadley that she’d been contacted about the Virginia job back in 2011, but wasn’t offered the position. Considering all that Staley has accomplished since, it is hard to believe Virginia isn’t kicking themselves about it: Staley has turned South Carolina into the best-attended women’s basketball program, reaching a pair of Final Fours and winning the national championship in 2017.

Staley signed a long-term extension last year, after winning the national title, which runs through 2024-25, will pay her $2.1 million by that point, and contains a buyout of $3.5 million right now.

The prohibitive cost would be worth it, from this view: Dawn Staley is the preeminent coach in the game today. But it doesn’t matter: it appears Virginia missed its chance back in 2011, and that process “left a sour taste in my mouth”, Staley said.

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