{"id":34451,"date":"2024-04-18T09:32:35","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T13:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=34451"},"modified":"2024-04-18T14:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T18:04:07","slug":"south-carolina-coach-dawn-staley-praises-god-for-championship-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/04\/south-carolina-coach-dawn-staley-praises-god-for-championship-win.html","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley Praises God For Championship Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_34511\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34511\" style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/04\/dawn-staley-praises-God-02_credit-Adobe-Stock_Inset-South-Caroline-Gamecocks-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-34511\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/04\/dawn-staley-praises-God-02_credit-Adobe-Stock_Inset-South-Caroline-Gamecocks-YouTube-550x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adobe Stock | Inset: South Caroline Gamecocks \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>University of South Carolina women\u2019s basketball coach Dawn Staley didn\u2019t waste time praising God after the Gamecocks won the national championship, days after a secular legal group called for the university to take action over comments on her faith. During a post-game interview with ESPN\u2019s Holly Rowe after South Carolina defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes, led by star Caitlin Clark, 87-75, Staley credited God as she won her third national title since taking the helm of the Gamecocks program in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Staley began in her interview with ESPN after breaking down in tears, \u201cWe serve an unbelievable God.\u201d The Gamecocks are the 10th team in NCAA Division I history to finish the season undefeated. Staley thanked her team for coming back strong and finishing the season as undefeated champions.\u201d This is the unlikeliest group to do it. And sometimes, I mean, God is funny like that. He\u2019s funny. He rips your heart out, and He makes you believe. He makes you believe the unimaginable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Staley, a 53-year-old three-time Olympic gold medalist, drew headlines last week for comments she made while\u00a0speaking to reporters\u00a0after her team advanced to the Final Four. Noting that her team overcame a devastating loss last year to advance so far with a different team this year, she remarked: \u201cIf you don\u2019t believe in God, something\u2019s wrong with you.\u201d She said, \u201cI\u2019m a believer because He makes things come true. When you\u2019re at your worst, He\u2019s at His best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lzNexgJVozE?si=D60FAPdz0Ak5I0i-\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The comment\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/atheist-group-files-complaint-against-ncaa-basketball-coach.html\">drew the ire<\/a>\u00a0of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates for a strict separation of church and state.\u00a0In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ffrf.org\/uploads\/files\/University%20of%20South%20Carolina%2C%20SC%20-%20Coach%20Staley%202024.pdf\">letter<\/a>\u00a0to University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis last Monday, FFRF staff attorney Christopher Line cited Staley\u2019s remarks as an example of her \u201congoing promotion of her personal religious beliefs and her denigration of non-Christians through the women\u2019s basketball program.\u201d\u00a0Line wrote, \u201cCurrent and future non-Christian and nonreligious players should feel welcome and respected as part of the women\u2019s basketball team, not be told by their coach that they are on a team that is representing Jesus and that \u2018if you don\u2019t believe in God, something is wrong with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Line urged the university to \u201ctake action to protect its student-athletes and to ensure that Staley understands that she has been hired as a basketball coach and not a pastor.\u201d FFRF also took offense with Staley\u2019s promotion of team \u201cgameday devotionals\u201d ahead of games on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The attorney recommends the school\u2019s leadership inform Staley of \u201cher constitutional duties under the Establishment Clause\u201d of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and remind her that she \u201cmay not promote religion in her capacity as head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Line requested \u201cnotification in writing of the actions the University is taking to ensure that Staley will not continue to proselytize to her players.\u201d In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dawnstaley\/status\/1774571957377204451\">post<\/a>\u00a0on X, Staley said she is \u201cnot ashamed to praise him for what he continues to do for me and mine.\u201d She added, \u201cIf you\u2019re a nonbeliever, it wasn\u2019t for you,\u201d she added. \u201c[W]ish you well with your beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of South Carolina women\u2019s basketball coach Dawn Staley didn\u2019t waste time praising God after the Gamecocks won the national championship, days after a secular legal group called for the university to take action over comments on her faith. During a post-game interview with ESPN\u2019s Holly Rowe after South Carolina defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes, led&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":34511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3630,3383,7,3388,10],"tags":[23,6275,3664],"class_list":["post-34451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes","category-christian-celebrity","category-entertainment","category-faith-based","category-sports","tag-christian","tag-dawn-staley","tag-faith-and-basketball"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley Praises God For Championship Win<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"University of South Carolina women\u2019s basketball coach Dawn Staley didn\u2019t 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