South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley says she will never leave South Carolina to take another college job.
But a professional job? That is a whole different story.
And after the New York Knicks came forward and announced they had interviewed her as a potential replacement for former head coach Tom Thibodeau, the rumors quickly began to circulate.
The rumors eventually made their way to X, joking about a potential situation that Staley would find herself in, which prompted Knicks center Karl Anthony-Towns to simply reply with a crying laughing emoji.
😂 https://t.co/nRTXOwuWxZ
— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) June 28, 2025
While this is just a subtle reply on a tweet, this could spill everything that the Knicks are attempting to conceal from the public.
Is Staley truly replacing Thibodeau? Is KAT just toying with our minds? Who knows at this point?
If Staley truly is the missing piece for New York, then the former WNBA star would become the first ever full-time female head coach in NBA history, which would only add to her legacy that is already enshrined for eternity in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, having been inducted in 2013.
Since taking over head coaching duties for the Gamecocks women’s basketball in 2008, Staley has led the team to a trio of women’s college basketball championships in 2017, 2022, and 2024, the latter seeing the team finish with a picture perfect 38-0 record.
In addition to her accomplishments with the team, Staley herself has been named the Naismith Coach of the Year four times, first in 2020 and then three consecutive awardings from 2022 to 2024.
