Dawn Staley has built one of basketball’s most impressive resumes, both as a coach and a player.
That resume was bolstered Sunday, as Staley coached the South Carolina Gamecocks to the team’s third women’s college basketball national championship since arriving at the program in 2008. This time, her team went undefeated, finishing the 2023-24 season with a 38-0 record.
Staley is also a four-time Naismith Coach of the Year winner, and has led South Carolina to six NCAA Final Fours and eight SEC regular-season championships.
Prior to her coaching career, Staley had a stellar career on the court, both in college and the pros. During her college days at the University of Virginia, she earned Naismith College Player of the Year honors twice. After college, Staley went on to win Olympic gold three times with USA Basketball and played professional basketball in the now defunct American Basketball League (ABL) and the WNBA. She was a two-time ABL All-Star as a member of the Richmond/Philadelphia Rage and earned WNBA All-Star honors five times total with the Charlotte Sting and Houston Comets.
Whether she was on the sidelines coaching or on the court playing, one thing has remained true with Staley: her footwear game has been on point.
While coaching South Carolina, she often wears high-end sneakers from Louis Vuitton, earning the nickname “Louis Vuitton Dawn” from her most ardent fans. She is also known for wearing silhouettes from other high fashion labels, such as Christian Louboutin and Gucci.
But her tastes in footwear aren’t limited to the world of high fashion. Staley has also worn coveted Jordans while coaching, including the Travis Scott x Fragment collab on the Air Jordan 1, and has been spotted several times in the Converse Run Star Hike Platform sneaker. During her playing days, she wore several top court-ready models of the time from Reebok and Nike (and appeared in several commercials for the Swoosh). And she even laced up a pair of K-Swiss sneakers in one of her early college basketball photos while at Virginia.
What’s more, Staley is an investor in active recovery footwear brand Oofos, a company she has partnered with since March 2022.
In the gallery below, check out Staley’s shoe style over the years.
About the Author
Peter Verry is the Senior News and Features Editor for Athletic and Outdoor at Footwear News. He oversees coverage of the two fast-paced and ultracompetitive markets, which includes conducting in-depth interviews with industry leaders and writing stories on sneakers and outdoor shoes. He is a lifelong sneaker addict (and shares his newest purchases via @peterverry on Instagram) and spends most of his free time on a trail. He holds an M.A. in journalism from Hofstra University and can be reached at peter.verry@footwearnews.com.
