Paris was just tip of Eiffel Tower for South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley's journey

COLUMBIA — As a 24-year-old living in Tarbes, France, Dawn Staley's idea of tourist attractions were the basketball arena and the walls of her bedroom. She spent eight months playing in the city but hardly remembers anything about her time abroad.

"When I was playing, I was singularly focused on playing. I didn't do any sightseeing," Staley said told the Greenville News. "I was so tunnel vision. I really didn't care anything about anything besides playing."

When she returned to France for South Carolina women's basketball's historic season opener in Paris against Notre Dame on Nov. 6, Staley wanted the Gamecocks to savor their once-in-a-lifetime experience. Her team hit all of the city's must-sees, from an evening river cruise on the Seine to a private tour of the Louvre.

Basketball often consumes Staley's every waking moment still at 53 years old, but the South Carolina coach is mastering the art of balance — both for herself and the young athletes she influences

"I think I've always had a good compass, because I played enough to know. I've had really good coaches that balanced it out, and I had coaches who didn't," Staley said. "I have my core values about things and how to operate ... but I'm more aware of balancing working hard and also resting."

Why basketball became Dawn Staley's life

Teresa Edwards first met Dawn Staley during USA Basketball tryouts for the 1994 FIBA World Cup in Australia. Edwards was a longtime veteran of the national team having played in the three previous Olympics, but she remembers the young point guard stood out immediately.

It wasn't because of her play, though that was impressive. It was because, in Edwards' words, Staley "irritated and agitated me."

"Dawn and I had this weird knack for loving the level of competition against each other and both of us hating to lose ... If it really came down to it, we were going to die instead of losing to each other," Edwards said. "Dawn likes to make you feel it and she'll go Philly on you if she wins, and that's how we hit it off. When it came down to the game for real for real, we just had an unbeatable spirit together."

Staley can't remember a time when she wasn't a basketball junkie. She threw herself into the sport to cope as the youngest of five siblings in the North Philadelphia housing projects. When she started college at the Virginia in 1988, that fixation stayed with her.

"If you're singularly focused on something that can distract you from all the negatives that come with growing up where I grew up, it's healthy. But I don't think it helped to develop the other areas of my life," Staley said. "I probably could count on one hand the times I went out in college."

Winning an Olympic gold medal was Staley's fiercest goal, but she was cut from Team USA in 1992 after graduating from Virginia. Without a women's basketball league in the United States at the time, her only professional options were overseas.

Staley competed in Spain, Brazil and Italy before France, but playing abroad didn't suit her. The international game emphasized scoring over the skills that made Staley a dominant point guard, and she held little mental space for anything off the court as she chased a national team roster spot for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

"If I knew what I know now, I would have had a better experience. I would have taken pictures. I would have just enjoyed it a lot more," Staley said. "But I was there because I wanted to be an Olympian, a gold medalist, and that was the route that I had to take ... My sacrifice wasn't noticeable to me, because that was my normal way of living."

When Staley made her first Olympic team, that intensity helped her fit in with a star-studded roster that featured Hall of Famers Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes. Edwards still feels the powerful bond forged among the 1996 squad, fueled by the tireless desire to win.

"We all had a story at that time. Dawn's was to get that first one ... For me it was redemption because we had gotten bronze in Barcelona (in 1992). It made us all so serious," Edwards said. "It was huge for everybody. Nobody was playing around with anything."

How coaching impacted Dawn Staley's mindset

Staley's basketball obsession didn't change when she was hired for her first head coaching job at Temple in 2000. If anything, it intensified as she juggled a still-active playing career with the demands of rebuilding the Owls.

Coaching was never a path that Staley saw for herself. She played six seasons in the WNBA with five All-Star selections while at Temple, and she only accepted the job because then-athletic director Dave O'Brien appealed to her competitive itch.

"They really challenged me to turn the program around, and I was like oh shoot, okay. Never looked at it like that," Staley said. "Once I got into it ... those relationships really opened my eyes to being an impact in (players') lives at a crucial age ... It felt good. It really felt like it wasn't even a job."

Staley was surprised when she fell in love with coaching, but it made perfect sense to Tara Vanderveer. The longtime Stanford coach led the 1996 Olympic team, and where Staley remembers herself as anti-social, Vanderveer saw a young leader adored by her teammates.

"She was hard on herself. She used to wear a little rubber band and snap it when she had a turnover ... She works really hard, and that makes her someone that people look up to," Vanderveer said. "But she was a very positive, encouraging teammate. She always brought energy. Everybody loved Dawn."

Staley has long been careful not to project her habits into expectations for her athletes. She admires that they juggle so many opportunities off the court and that they're willing to ask for "mental health days," all while upholding a standard of commitment.

"I chose my way, and that's their way, so I'm not going to change how they get to their equilibrium. I'm not going to mess that up," Staley said. "I can't allow how I am to enter into that space, because I'm a little different. I grew up in the game a little bit different. We have to earmark time for them to be young people."

When Dawn Staley learned to 'enjoy the moment'

It might be a cliche, but moving to the South slowed Staley down.

"It's a cultural difference. Southerners, they like to talk. They like to know more about you than basketball," Staley said. "So I was kind of forced into it, but it's not a bad thing. I actually enjoy it now. I really enjoy talking to people, walking, just seeing what I don't know."

As Staley settled into Columbia and life after playing, she suddenly had an excess of spare time when practices and scouting reports were finished. That led her to taking walks, sometimes solo, but often with her dog, Champ, in his stroller or at her feet.

From South Carolina's campus to the 2021 NCAA Tournament bubble, a walk has become Staley's go-to method to experience the world. Perhaps not the most adventurous choice, but she'll always be a homebody at heart.

"Traveling, with or without the team, I'm gonna get a walk in. I'm going to go see what it's about. I never did that as a player," Staley said. "Everywhere we go, I'm going to find a way to enjoy the moment, because it's something that I did not do, like ever."

Bringing the Gamecocks to Paris gave Staley a chance to savor the moments she would once have missed, watching them pose for photos under the Eiffel Tower and ogle at the Mona Lisa. As much as basketball remains constantly on her mind, she found joy in watching her players forget about the court.

"It was just cool seeing them smiling and having conversation that has nothing to do with basketball, and then when it's time to practice they're good," Staley said. "It's pretty cool to get to know them on that level and see our team grow to a cohesive unit."

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This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina coach Dawn Staley savors life beyond basketball