(ThyBlackMan.com) One of the best things about the third month of the calendar year are the abundance of women’s and men’s college basketball tournament games. March Madness is a staple of the annual sports calendar with college basketball being front and center. South Carolina is again one of the favorites to win the women’s Division I college basketball championship with an experienced and deep squad under the leadership of head coach Dawn Staley. Due to South Carolina’s success over the past half-decade, it is fair to consider Staley as arguably the best head coach in women’s college basketball, which seems almost blasphemous in a sport in which UConn legend Geno Auriemma has set nearly every head coaching record imaginable for the most historically successful program in women’s college basketball history.
The rise of Dawn Staley to the top of women’s college basketball among head coaches is also notable as she became just the second African/Black female head coach to lead a team to the Division I championship back in 2017 and she has since added two more championships to her impressive resume. The question is whether she started a pipeline of African/Black female head coaches in a sport where many of the top athletes are African/Black women including USC’s Juju Watkins and LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson. Back in 2021, Staley sent a piece of her 2017 NCAA Championship net to every African/Black woman head coach in the country, which was a tradition started by Carolyn Peck, the first African/Black female head coach to win a women’s college basketball Division I championship. There are several accomplished and promising African/Black female head coaches and here is the list of the top five currently in Division I starting from fifth best to the number one best, who is no surprise:
5. Adia Barnes-Arizona: Although the surprise run for Arizona to the NCAA Championship Game seems like a millennium ago, it was only back in 2021 for a head coach that has given her alma mater plenty to be happy about. Barnes’s Final Four appearance with that Arizona team years ago made her the youngest coach since 2014 to make the Final Four and she remains one of the better young coaches in the country.
4. Felisha Legette-Jack-Syracuse: The most experienced coach on this list, Legette-Jack has shown the ability to get the most out of teams of young women in different locations. She has coached three different programs to 20-win seasons including at Indiana, Buffalo, and her current school, Syracuse. She is the all-time winningest coach in Buffalo Bulls history.
3. Kara Lawson-Duke: In a short period of time, Lawson has converted her great basketball pedigree into strong head coaching acumen. A former Tennessee point guard for legendary coach Pat Summitt, Lawson is currently the only active NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach to play in a NCAA Final Four, win a WNBA Championship and win an Olympic Gold Medal. She has brought Duke women’s basketball back to being a respected, tough ACC program after some down years before her arrival. Her head coaching arrow is pointing up.
2. Niele Ivey-Notre Dame: It is always extremely challenging to step into the shoes of a Hall of Famer and succeed yet Ivey has done that at one of the better women’s college basketball programs in the country. The longtime assistant to Hall of Famer Muffet McGraw, she has shown a keen recruiting talent and been a vital component for Notre Dame being one of the best schools for producing professional women’s basketball talent as both an assistant coach and now a head coach. There is pressure for Notre Dame to consistently make Final Fours which Ivey hasn’t yet done, but the key word is “yet”.
1. Dawn Staley-South Carolina: Staley isn’t just the best current African/Black female women’s college basketball head coach, she is the best women’s college basketball head coach period ahead of Geno, Kim Mulkey, or anyone else by virtue of turning South Carolina into the current women’s college basketball powerhouse. Staley’s teams are consistently a challenge in the interior both offensively and defensively for opposing teams and she can recruit at a high level both in the high school ranks and the transfer portal. Her point guard background is evident in the way she views the game of basketball as a head coach. She has a chance to win several more national championships in her already impressive head coaching career.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines
