By DOUG FEINBERG, AP Basketball Writer
Dawn Staley has a sheepish grin, which turns into a smile after a quick glance at the Greensboro Region of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
There is sense of pride that exudes from the South Carolina basketball coach when she sees people who look like her, doing what she does and getting the chance to be successful at it.
Including Staley, five of the dozen Black female coaches in the women’s tourney are in the Greensboro part of the bracket. The 12 coaches doubles the number of Black women that led teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Though there is still much work to be done, Staley said it is a sign of success.
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“When you give people opportunity that they don’t often get and they’re successful, this is kind of what happens. I think it’s popular now. Like it was popular probably … when Coach (Jolette) Law got the Illinois job,” in 2007, Staley said of her Gamecocks assistant.
“A lot of Black coaches got opportunities during that time,” Staley added. “And then probably three, four years later, 75% of them weren’t head coaches anymore, and they don’t get recycled like other coaches. So I think now Black coaches are more prepared because they have had to be prepared.”
Staley will face one those Black female coaches, Howard’s Ty Grace, when her top-seeded Gamecocks play the Bison on Friday. Grace led Howard to a win in the inaugural women’s First Four on Wednesday, beating Incarnate Word in Columbia, South…
