Dawn Staley declines to address Geno Auriemma controversy
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Dawn Staley’s Easter Sunday had already been bad enough.
The South Carolina women’s basketball coach didn’t win that 4th championship of her illustrious time in Columbia, as the Gamecocks fell and fell hard to UCLA, 79-51, in a national title game beatdown in Phoenix.
Afterward, during a somber postgame press conference, Staley was asked to rehash the Geno Auriemma controversy that stemmed from Friday night’s skirmish after South Carolina had eliminated Auriemma’s UConn team in the national semifinals. Staley and Auriemma, the 2 women’s basketball coaching legends, had some words as they came together when the game ended and had to be separated.
It’s sparked a few days of massive attention, as South Carolina tried to regroup and go win a national title on Sunday. On Saturday, during her off day press conference, Staley sidestepped a question from a reporter about Auriemma issuing an apology to South Carolina over his actions the previous night.
“For me, no distractions at this time,” Staley said. “Concentrating on a national championship.”
And on Sunday, when a reporter asked again about the Auriemma ordeal, Staley again sidestepped the issue, this time because she didn’t want to take away from the championship that UCLA had just earned.
Telling reporters that she hadn’t heard from Auriemma, Staley quickly changed gears, saying: “But let’s keep it UCLA, them winning the national championship. Again, I will address all of that at another time. It’s not this weekend. We’re not gonna dampen UCLA’s day with it.”
And with that, the Staley-Auriemma sideshow was left to be continued on another day, to be determined by when Staley chooses to address it. Sunday was UCLA’s day in the sun, and Staley wasn’t about to rain on the Bruins’ parade.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
