Dawn Staley Calls Out the Media, "We're not bar fighters. We're not thugs. We're not monkeys. We're not street fighters."

Dawn Staley, the head basketball coach at the University of South Carolina was asked by a reporter, "What's the truth about your team?" The previously undefeated Lady Gamecocks had just lost 77-73, to Iowa in the national semi-finals Final Four game in the NCAA  Women's Basketball Championship in Dallas.

Before the game Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said someone described rebounding against South Carolina to her as "going to a bar fight." Earlier this year UConn Lady Huskies coach Geno Auriemma criticized South Carolina's style of play as overly physical. His team lost to South Carolina in February.

Staley went on to say in the post game press conference. "Some of the people in the media, when you're gathering in public, you're saying things about our team, and you're being heard, and it's being brought back to me."

Check out the Staley's full response below. "And these are the people that write nationally for our sport. ... So watch what you say when you're in public and you're talking about my team in particular."


Sometimes you have had enough and have to take control of the narrative.

"We're not bar fighters. We're not thugs. We're not monkeys. We're not street fighters. ... So watch what you say when you're in public and you're talking about my team in particular."

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley had a message for the media. pic.twitter.com/4Y6WL3T8MX

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 1, 2023