There is a unique kind of pride that comes from watching the place that made you achieve something it hasn’t accomplished in a quarter century. For Dawn Staley, that moment arrived during this year’s NCAA Women’s Tournament — and she wasn’t shy about what it meant to her.
In a recent interview, the South Carolina head coach was asked about Virginia, her alma mater, which has made a stunning run to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. Staley didn’t just offer a polite congratulation. She offered something more personal — and more telling.
“I’m very happy for Virginia,” Staley said. “I’ve been in very close contact with Coach Mox throughout her tenure.”
That line alone carries weight. Staley isn’t watching from a distance. She has maintained an active, ongoing relationship with Virginia head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton — known widely as Coach Mox — throughout Mox’s time building the program back into relevance. The fact that the winningest active coach in women’s college basketball has kept a close eye on her alma mater’s rebuild speaks to how personally invested she is in what the Cavaliers are becoming.
But perhaps the most revealing thing Staley said wasn’t about where Virginia has been. It was about where she believes they’re headed.
“They’re probably hungry for a little bit more.”
Six words. Quietly loaded. Coming from a coach who has built a dynasty on refusing to be satisfied, that phrase lands differently than casual praise. Staley isn’t just applauding the Cavaliers for reaching the Sweet 16 — she’s signaling that she doesn’t think this is their ceiling. A team that knocked off second-seeded Iowa in double overtime, that ended a 25-year tournament drought, that became the first women’s First Four team ever to advance this far — that team, in Staley’s estimation, still has an appetite.
The history between Staley and Virginia runs deep. She played her college basketball in Charlottesville, becoming one of the most decorated players in program history before going on to a Hall of Fame career and, eventually, becoming the most successful coach in the modern era of women’s basketball. When Virginia struggles, she notices. When Virginia wins, it means something.
Now the Cavaliers are on a collision course with the rest of the Sacramento Regional, carrying with them the momentum of three wins in six days and the confidence of a team that has already done the impossible once this tournament. They will face TCU and Olivia Miles in the Sweet 16, a formidable obstacle for any program, let alone one that went 25 years between deep runs.
But if their most famous alumna — a woman who has been to this stage more times than almost anyone in the sport’s history — believes they’re hungry for more, that is not nothing.
Virginia arrived in Sacramento as the Cinderella. Based on what Staley is seeing, they may not be content to stay in that role for long.
