After leading South Carolina’s women’s basketball team to the 2017 NCAA title, head coach Dawn Staley turned the net she cut down into a fashion accessory. Her players jokingly nicknamed it her netlace.
“I mean she literally wore it everywhere,” Gamecocks player Kaela Davis told USA Today in 2017. “She went to a baseball game, she had the netlace on. She was walking around campus having the netlace on.”
At the time, Staley said it was her way of sharing her accomplishment with others. “I figuratively give them a piece of the net because there’s so many people, so many people are involved in a big accomplishment like winning a national championship,” she explained.
These days, the net sharing is no longer just figurative.
Earlier this week, envelopes postmarked from Columbia, South Carolina, began arriving at athletic departments around the country.
Contained inside? A piece of Staley’s 2017 national championship net.
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Staley continues net-sharing tradition with other Black women coaches
In 1999, Carolyn Peck became the first Black coach to win a women’s basketball national championship. “When I was described as the first, that meant there was going to be a second,” Peck told the Undefeated in 2017.
But for over a decade, Peck remained the sole member of that club.
In 2015, Peck decided to give Staley a piece of her 1999 net. But there was one condition: when Staley won her national title, she had to pass it on, Peck told her.
Staley tucked the piece of Peck’s net in her wallet and, two years later, she climbed the ladder at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, to cut her own championship net off of the hoop.
Staley returned her gifted piece of net back to Peck, but it took her a few years to pass her own net along. After she stopped wearing it as a netlace, she hung it from the rearview mirror of her car.
But ahead of the 2021-22 women’s basketball season, Staley - who signed a seven-year, 22.4 million dollar contract earlier this fall - decided to send a piece of her net to every Black woman basketball head coach.
“I struggled to pick just one other coach to give mine to keep the tradition alive,” she wrote in a letter that accompanied each piece of net. “I don’t want to count black women as National Championship coaches by one every few decades; I want us to do it so often we lose count!”
She continued: “I pick ALL of you to receive this piece of our 2017 National Championship net in the hope that making our goal tangible will inspire you, as it did me, to keep pushing forward and us all to keep supporting each other in our journeys.”
As coaches around the country opened their envelopes, they posted their reaction on social media.
“This is dope, coach!” Weber State head coach Velaida Harris said upon realizing what Staley had sent her. “That’s why you’re beloved.”
Kennesaw State University head coach Octavia Blue called the net “one of the most amazing gifts ever given to me.”
“This is definitely going to be with me all season, and seasons to come,” Coastal Carolina University head coach Jaida Williams said in a video. “You are a motivation and inspiration, not only to myself, but countless women of color.”
Arizona’s Adia Barnes - who made history with Staley last April - hugged her piece of net, thanked Staley, and then added, “And hopefully I will be doing this one day.”
Women’s basketball coaches react to receiving a piece of net from South Carolina’s Dawn Staley
Go get what you deserve sis! https://t.co/89v4BKYdFV
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) November 10, 2021
Complete honesty. I DID NOT think @dawnstaley meant EVERY black female coach would receive a piece of her 2017 National Championship net. I’m floored, grateful, & inspired. THANK YOU coach for leadership & motivation! #MGC🔴🟡 pic.twitter.com/LvJOssvSgq
— Doshia Woods (@doshwoods) November 10, 2021
You are appreciated, Coach💪🏾 Thank you! @dawnstaley pic.twitter.com/zUY0P4ygFH
— Velaida Harris (@SimplyBeinV) November 10, 2021
Thank you @dawnstaley for inspiring me! Love ya girl❤️ pic.twitter.com/x57A9zsbhp
— ADIA BARNES COPPA (@AdiaBarnes) November 10, 2021
One. Of. A. Kind.
— CoachJaida (@CoachJaida) November 10, 2021
Words can’t describe how grateful I am to have a piece of @dawnstaley ‘s National championship net! 🏀
Grateful. Thankful.
I will carry & cherish this until I earn one. It will serve as motivation daily! #WOC
Love you, sis! 🖤 pic.twitter.com/rhmWpR3BT3
As we kick off this new season… wanted to send a huge thank you to @dawnstaley for this awesome gift of a piece of her championship net!! Def something to aspire to! Good luck to all and stay healthy#onwisconsin pic.twitter.com/93E5Tm1KSK
— marisa moseley (@marisamoseley) November 10, 2021
On the day of my first game as a head coach I want to say THANK YOU to @dawnstaley for the amazing gift and gesture. Words can’t describe what it means to me, and I am forever grateful. #networth pic.twitter.com/TBPSMbVOBS
— Janell Crayton (@BCU_HC_CoachJay) November 10, 2021
Thank you Coach @dawnstaley , the way you have inspired me as a young kid growing up in Jersey has continued to be a blessing today! pic.twitter.com/9WjkQW9otc
— Toyelle Wilson (@CoachTMWilson) November 10, 2021
Today… I received one of the most amazing gifts ever given to me. Thank you Coach Dawn Staley @dawnstaley . It’s an amazing feeling to be thought of this early in my head coaching career. What an honor. 🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/xvlcbBcbhs
— Octavia Blue (@CoachOBlue) November 10, 2021
I’m currently watching @GamecockWBB on @espn. But, I want to personally thank @dawnstaley for sharing something so special! A piece of 2017 National Championship net. #specialgift pic.twitter.com/Rajo14xe1j
— Shereka Wright (@CoachRekeUTA) November 9, 2021
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