{"id":64905,"date":"2026-02-16T23:25:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905"},"modified":"2026-02-16T23:25:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:25:40","slug":"breaking-news-i-am-finally-leaving-dawn-staley-made-the-announcement-from-the-team-few-minutes-ago-due-to-her-see-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905","title":{"rendered":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her&#8230;. see why\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"d79db4796efc26332eabfc3f5dafbc76\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<div class=\"hb-ad-inarticle\">\r\n    <div class=\"hb-ad-inner\"> \r\n    <div class=\"hbagency_cls\"  id=\"hbagency_space_111930\"><\/div><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Breaking News: \u201cI Am Finally Leaving\u201d \u2014 Dawn Staley Stuns Basketball World<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In an emotional and unexpected announcement just minutes ago, Dawn Staley revealed she is stepping away, sending shockwaves through the South Carolina Gamecocks women&#8217;s basketball program and the wider college basketball community.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fighting back tears, Staley addressed her team privately before the news became public. \u201cI am finally leaving,\u201d she said, explaining that the decision comes after deep personal reflection and ongoing considerations about her long-term goals and well-being. While she did not detail every factor, sources indicate the move is tied to a desire to pursue new professional challenges and dedicate more time to personal priorities she has long placed on hold.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Staley\u2019s impact on South Carolina has been monumental. Under her leadership, the Gamecocks became a national powerhouse, capturing multiple NCAA titles and consistently competing at the highest level. Her influence extended beyond the court, as she became a powerful advocate for equality and leadership in women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Players were visibly emotional, many crediting Staley not just as a coach, but as a mentor and life-changing figure. Though her departure marks the end of a historic era, her legacy in Columbia\u2014and in women\u2019s basketball\u2014will endure for generations.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking News: \u201cI Am Finally Leaving\u201d \u2014 Dawn Staley Stuns Basketball World &nbsp; In an emotional and unexpected announcement just minutes ago, Dawn Staley revealed she is stepping away, sending shockwaves through the South Carolina Gamecocks women&#8217;s basketball program and the wider college basketball community. &nbsp; Fighting back tears, Staley addressed her team privately before [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"letsportsrock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-16T23:25:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-51.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"554\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"554\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"letsportsrock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"letsportsrock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"letsportsrock\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a454ac24e58b214ddd97e4b5afb0bf01\"},\"headline\":\"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her&#8230;. see why\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-16T23:25:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/images-51.jpeg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905\",\"name\":\"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/images-51.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-16T23:25:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a454ac24e58b214ddd97e4b5afb0bf01\"},\"description\":\"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/images-51.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/images-51.jpeg\",\"width\":554,\"height\":554},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?p=64905#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her&#8230;. see why\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"letsportsrock\",\"description\":\"Sport News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a454ac24e58b214ddd97e4b5afb0bf01\",\"name\":\"letsportsrock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8ef950cbb7574c0bc874094b8d307659bfe2d7aa4a9d26fa6917eff010748f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8ef950cbb7574c0bc874094b8d307659bfe2d7aa4a9d26fa6917eff010748f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8ef950cbb7574c0bc874094b8d307659bfe2d7aa4a9d26fa6917eff010748f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"letsportsrock\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.letsportsrock.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0","description":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0","og_description":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905","og_site_name":"letsportsrock","article_published_time":"2026-02-16T23:25:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":554,"height":554,"url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-51.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"letsportsrock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"letsportsrock","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905"},"author":{"name":"letsportsrock","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a454ac24e58b214ddd97e4b5afb0bf01"},"headline":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her&#8230;. see why\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-02-16T23:25:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905"},"wordCount":232,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-51.jpeg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905","url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905","name":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-51.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-02-16T23:25:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a454ac24e58b214ddd97e4b5afb0bf01"},"description":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her.... see why\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-51.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-51.jpeg","width":554,"height":554},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?p=64905#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Breaking News:\u00a0 I am finally leaving, Dawn Staley made the announcement from the team few minutes ago due to her&#8230;. see why\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/","name":"letsportsrock","description":"Sport News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a454ac24e58b214ddd97e4b5afb0bf01","name":"letsportsrock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8ef950cbb7574c0bc874094b8d307659bfe2d7aa4a9d26fa6917eff010748f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8ef950cbb7574c0bc874094b8d307659bfe2d7aa4a9d26fa6917eff010748f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8ef950cbb7574c0bc874094b8d307659bfe2d7aa4a9d26fa6917eff010748f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"letsportsrock"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-51.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64907,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64905\/revisions\/64907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.letsportsrock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}