The Playbook (2020): Season 1, Episode 5 - Dawn Staley: A Coach's Rules for Life - full transcript

[suspenseful music playing]

[distant cheering]

My love for puzzles came very early on
in my childhood.

[chuckles]

I used to only get puzzles for Christmas

because that was all
my parents could afford.

And... it was something
that I was just drawn to.

Building from the ground up.

It's, uh, frustrating and gratifying,

'cause puzzles can really overwhelm you.

But the moment you put
one piece into another...



it makes you keep coming back
to complete the puzzle.

[commentator 1]
And here comes Dawn Staley, on the run.

[commentator 2] She has one
of the most stellar athletic résumés.

[commentator 3]
Staley on the run, jumper from the paint.

[commentator 2] Dawn Staley is money,
the player to get the ball to.

[commentator 3]
Three-time Olympic gold medalist.

[commentator 1]
Dawn Staley is taking over!

[commentator 2] The heart of this player,
Dawn Staley, can't say enough about her.

[commentator 4] Staley alone!

[commentator 3] Dawn was seeing the court
like a coach before coaching.

She's directing traffic,
changing the play.

[commentator 5] The woman who won
the first SEC Championship for Carolina

now making it three in a row.

[commentator 6] The first Final Four
in South Carolina's history.



[commentator 3] Dawn Staley
has been announced

as the head coach of the US national team.

[commentator 2] The missing piece
in her amazing résumé?

She's never won an NCAA Championship.

It's strange how my puzzle of life
gets put together.

[gentle instrumental music]

[man] I wanna go over the list

of some of the things
that this young lady has accomplished.

As a coach, she's a two-time
Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.

Come.

[man] Four Atlantic 10 tournament titles.

I was talking with one of her counterparts
in the Atlantic 10,

and he just prayed
that we would hire Dawn.

He said that would be the best
as far as his coaching career

was to hire her out of the Atlantic 10.

[crowd applauding]

[man] Dawn Staley.

[Dawn] I got all of my coaching rings
and some of my playing rings.

How they changed over the years.

I don't get women's rings.

I get men's rings
because I don't wear 'em,

and they're more like trophies
and the men's rings are obviously bigger.

Compare the Final Fours.

[laughs]

Growing up,
there weren't girls in my neighborhood

playing any type of sports.

So, I grew up playing with... with...

with boys.

[jazzy funk music]

[Dawn] I grew up the youngest of five.

All five of us, plus my two parents,

all living in a three-bedroom,

tight row home in the projects.

When you have that many siblings,

you really... you fight for everything.

I had older brothers
who used to go out on the courts,

and they didn't want their little sister
out there with guys.

And I... I didn't care.

Whatever the guys were doing, I was doing.

We were super creative.

We made basketball courts anywhere.

We would cut out
the bottom of a milk crate,

put it up on an electrical pole.

We chalked out the key,
the free-throw line.

I had a mean bank shot...
off of a crate basket.

[indistinct chatter]

[Dawn] The big boys, so to speak,

took over the court where everybody
in the neighborhood came.

And if you were anybody
that could play basketball,

you were on that court.

What really fueled me
as a little girl growing up,

it was to get on the big boy court.

I remember hearing two phrases
growing up,

being the only girl out there
on the court. One was,

"You need to be
in a kitchen somewhere."

And the other one was,
"Go put on a skirt."

Those words used to hurt me.

They didn't wanna play against me
because I was a girl.

So, I used to stand around with my ball.

I used to watch the game.

But sometimes,
I was the only one that brought a ball.

So, I made a rule.

If my ball was being used to play,

I was gonna be on the court.

I wasn't gonna allow them to not pick me
because I was a girl.

I made people respect me
by my persistence.

Then I really didn't have to
bring my ball out,

because I earned the right
to be the first 10 on the floor.

[players yelling]

[Dawn] I was taking notes,

and I tried to emulate some of the things
that were happening out there.

[commentator 3]
Watch how Staley works at full speed.

There's a bit of Philly
in that move right there.

You can't coach that.

When they were on the other side
of being schooled, or crossed over,

that's when you earn respect.

I made them respect my game,

and respect it to the point of...

they played me harder
than they actually played boys.

That toughened me.

Sometimes you gotta be tough,
suck it up, persevere.

And in high school,
when I played at Dobbins Tech,

we drew a crowd.

And that was so not
the thing to do back then,

is to go watch
a girls' basketball team play.

That's when I knew
that I was getting pretty good at this.

Everything that I've achieved afterwards

was because I had that desire in me

for them to respect my game.

It was my biggest motivator.

Keep running it! Big guard!

[players yelling]

[Dawn] Big guard! Go, big guard!

Big. Yes! Yes!

[scattered clapping]

There you go.

There you go.

I... I want to score
but I'm having a hard time relaxing,

- like, mentally.
- Uh-huh.

Like, I feel like I'm thinking too much
to just relax...

Yeah, you're a freshman.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm having the jitters, but...

Yeah, it's gonna happen.
It's gonna be like that.

But I don't want you
to feel comfortable right now.

I want you to be uncomfortable,
because this is...

This isn't... this isn't easy,
this is all new stuff.

So, if you're comfortable with it,
then you know

where everybody needs to be.

But you're not, so it's...

This is... this is very normal.

[Dawn] When I was just growing up
in North Philly...

I never really thought about... my race.

At all.

Until I went to
the University of Virginia.

- [crowd cheering]
- [fanfare plays]

[announcer]
From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

wearing number 24, Dawn Staley!

[crowd cheering]

[Dawn] Because there I saw
so many white people,

like more so than I ever
have seen in my life.

I didn't feel comfortable... being me.

Like, I didn't... I didn't talk much.

I certainly, you know, didn't trust...

And I wasn't gonna talk to anybody
that I didn't feel like I connected with.

I don't think I had a voice.

The only thing I wanted to do
was play basketball.

I had nothing else.

And I found myself in academic trouble
after the first year.

And I didn't know where to take it,
I didn't know who to talk to.

You feel like you're the only one
that's failing this class.

And I had to sit in front of the dean
and tell her

how I got myself in this situation.

Being a city kid from North Philly,

I gave her no eye contact. I mumbled.

And she proceeded to go on to say that,
"You haven't done well.

Um, are you serious about
being here at UVA?

We know that you're a student athlete,

and we know you can
play basketball really well, you know,

but academics and basketball
go hand in hand here at UVA."

She was the decision-maker
on whether I stay,

or whether I get kicked out of UVA.

It was that serious.

I didn't know who to talk to.

I was uncomfortable talking to anybody.

To know how to study,
to know how to take notes.

To actually have conversations,
like mature conversations with professors.

Because I was...

I was a fish out of water.

And the dean said this thing to me.
She said,

"Growth takes place
outside of your comfort zone.

That's why it's not comfortable.

That's why, you know,
nobody wants to go there.

Just because life throws you something
that makes you a little uncomfortable,

or makes you a little bit different
than some other people,

don't allow that to be a weakness."

She said, "You gotta work just as hard
as you do on the basketball court

in the classroom."

We wanna be disciplined,
so you gotta discipline your feet.

Okay, here we go.

The hard work, the dedication.

And your feet. Good. Go, go, go! Good.

And once I figured that out,

I instantly became a better student.

I started competing in the classroom.

[Dawn laughs]

Ah!

Stacy coming across the middle! Pow!

Whoo!

And now, I experience
the same type of things with my players.

As players, we complicate
what should happen out here

'cause we're thinking too much,
or trying to do too much.

So, don't think so much about scoring.

Just do what you're asked.

If you do that,
your role will increase

because I can count on you.

Questions?

- No.
- No?

It's just... It's nice to hear this.

Yeah.

And I say this to all of our players...

sometimes you have to take steps
that make you uncomfortable,

to understand where you are...

and where you wanna be.

[sneakers squeaking]

Yo! I got her.

You get your ass through there.
I got her. I'm getting her open.

It's easy, it's a conversation.

But when you say nothing,
you got her working overtime.

Okay? Here we go.

Let's go five-on-five.

Two-man! Two-man!

When I took the job
at University of South Carolina...

Ha! Nice! Nice!

...I came with one purpose.

And that was to make South Carolina

a national powerhouse
and win a National Championship.

But back then, I did not realize

how important the South Carolina fans

would be to our growth.

[loud cheering]

[cheering continues]

[buzzer sounding]

[Dawn] When I got to South Carolina,

we would come out the tunnel
for our home games,

and you could literally count on
probably a couple of hands

how many people were in the stands.

We'd like to be seen
by as many people as possible.

And if we could get just a snippet

of who shows up for our football games,
I think that shouldn't be a problem.

[laughter]

[Dawn] Without the fans,
we can't recruit the type of players

that are needed
to win a National Championship.

Here we go, come on, come on!

Come on.

And I knew,
if we were gonna have any success,

we needed to push for larger crowds.

Together, on three. One, two, three...

[all] Together!

Let's go, guys.

We pretty much
"mommed and popped" it after that.

Thank y'all for coming.

I wanted to elevate women's basketball

in a town that is known
as being a football town.

[crowd cheering]

[announcer on PA] Dawn Staley!

And I'm a Black woman coming to
a predominantly white university.

So, I think it's important for me

to tap into the community,
because it's helpful when...

when you're able to attract people
into your arena.

[newscaster]
People might not know it,

but attendance is picking up
at women's basketball games.

Beyoncé has the "Beyhive."

So, we created the G-Hive.

[cheers]

[Dawn] It's no longer a movement to like
women's basketball in South Carolina.

It's a lifestyle.

- How you doing?
- Thrilled to watch you guys play.

People that come watch us play
look different at our games

than any other sport on our campus.

[news anchor] Dawn came
and turned this around,

so fans must be pretty pumped
right about now.

"Pumped" is an understatement.

[Dawn] The fans really did the part of...

making us look like
a National Championship team.

[loud cheering]

Number one in the country in attendance
for the third straight year in a row.

Let's go, let's go. Let's go, Kiki!

Let's go, Lae.

And, for us, it helps because

kids wanna play in front of large crowds.

[reporter] Meet A'ja Wilson.

At 6'4", the Heathwood Hall standout

is regarded as the top girls' basketball
recruit in the class of 2014.

When we recruited A'ja Wilson,
it was quite a challenge.

[reporter] Where that superstar lands for
the next 4 years is a mystery.

South Carolina, though,
is one of four schools in the mix.

[A’ja] I remember Coach Staley's
first year at South Carolina,

and seeing there wasn't
a lot of people in the stands.

But seeing the program change

is kind of a good thing
to see as a recruit.

[players chanting]

[Dawn] When we had her on the campus,

she came during the time
in which there was a game going on.

[commentator 7]
Mitchell, left elbow... Got it!

[Dawn] And the student section
knew she was in the stands,

and they started chanting her name.
"We want A'ja!"

[crowd chanting] We want A'ja!

[Dawn] And the fans
made it really hard for her

to tell us no.

[sportscaster]
A'ja, the floor is yours.

Where will you play your college ball?

I'll be attending
University of South Carolina.

[loud cheers]

[Dawn] What our program has done,
with our crowd,

is we created a place
where people feel truly special.

When you come to our game,
you see everybody

that have joined hands to support
a women's basketball program...

because of how we've made them feel.

When you make somebody feel special,

they wanna help you to succeed.

Are you ready for March Madness?
It's coming up.

[loud cheering]

[newscaster 2]
Stage is set for the Final Four.

Philadelphia's own Dawn Staley led her
South Carolina team to the Final Four.

This is the first Final Four berth
in South Carolina's history.

We had all the key ingredients.
We looked like all the high-powered teams

across the country besides us
winning a National Championship.

We were right on the brink.

[indistinct prayer]

[commentator 8] Down by one.

Eight seconds left.

Six, five...

Mitchell way outside the three,
the ball is tipped away.

But Mitchell gets it back.

- [buzzer sounds]
- No good, it's over,

and Notre Dame is going back
to the National Championship game!

Hats off to Notre Dame, but you've got to
feel for these Carolina Gamecocks.

Dawn Staley has truly put together
a championship-caliber team.

To lose here by just one point?
That's heartbreaking.

[inaudible]

[Dawn] It was our first time
being at the Final Four.

Our season got upended.

When you lose,
it's devastating to a competitor.

It is something that... It jolts you.

And you either gonna have
the mental capacity to keep moving...

or you don't.

[crowd cheering]

Dawn, thank you so much.

[Dawn] When you've put in all of that,
it's hard.

And I shared with them
my experience as a player.

[commentator 2] Here we are,
it's the Women's National Championship.

Virginia needs two possessions.
Dawn Staley works inside, coming up short,

but grabs her own rebound.

Scores off the glass!
Twenty-five points for Staley.

It's a two-point game. Dawn Staley
might get the last shot of the game.

Misses, gets her own rebound.

Still can't finish it. And Lisa Harrison
comes away with it for Tennessee.

[buzzer sounds]

That's the play
that took our National Championship.

That's the play.

That's the play.

[commentator 2]
Heart of this player.

Dawn Staley, you just can't
say enough about her.

[Dawn] I had a really hard time
getting over that loss.

It was probably 'cause I was so close
to getting my childhood dream.

So, I watched that game over...

and over and over and over again.

I became obsessed with it.

I got depressed.

I didn't... I didn't feel like
playing basketball anymore.

I couldn't get myself up...

to play.

And now, as a coach...

that's why we implemented,

for our team, a 24-hour rule.

Twenty-four hours from a win or a loss,

we move on. We move on.

[coach] All right. Go, ladies!

[Dawn] I came up with that rule
because I saw how, just like me,

we had players who were competitive.

That losing wasn't an option for them.

And when they started to lose,
it really impacted their day,

and it started connecting to other days.

To where we had to finally say,

"Let it go."

At times, you have to learn

the steps of becoming a national champion.

One of those steps is losing.

[commentator 9] That seals the biggest
upset in women's basketball this season.

[Dawn] Because it's all about momentum.

And momentum
doesn't mean it's a positive thing.

You can have momentum to lose
and be defeated,

and it brings out the ugly part of you.

You got 24 hours
to bask in your victory...

[commentator 9]
And South Carolina survives a major scare.

Whoo!

...or you got 24 hours
to agonize over your defeat.

[commentator 9] And Dawn Staley is furious
on the sideline.

[Dawn] We put one foot
in front of the other, keep moving.

[A'ja] We pick up where we left off,
know how it feels,

we got that chip now,
so we're gonna keep pushing forward.

[buzzer sounds]

[reporter 2] Gamecocks survive
and advance to Elite Eight

for the second time under Coach Staley
in three years.

[Dawn] Showing them the big picture
of the moment that they're in.

[loud cheers]

[commentator 10] South Carolina
is heading to the Final Four!

[crowd cheering]

That's probably the play of the game,
right there, for me.

Right there, because everybody
was involved, everybody did their jobs,

and everybody executed like we set out.

There isn't anybody in the country
that has what's in this room, right here.

Nobody. Nobody.

Playing the way that we're playing,
the sky is the limit for us.

Embrace that, hold on to that,
and get us to...

a place where we've never been.

We've never been
to a National Championship game, so,

what you gonna do?

[commentator 9]
One great success story of a coach

building a program
in college basketball history.

The work Dawn Staley has done
with this Carolina team

has made them relevant,
and they're on their way

to their first win in a Final Four.

[commentator 11] And the outlet
to a wide-open Cuevas-Moore!

- [whistle blow]
- [cheering]

[commentator 11] Gamecocks gonna dance on
to the National Championship game,

as they take out Stanford.

What's it like to be in a Championship?
Can you believe it?

I cannot believe it, but, I mean,
it feels so good, but we're not done yet.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

[Dawn] Had we won
the National Championship in 1991,

I don't know where I would be.

I really don't know where I would be
because, um,

the National Championship
was something that I wanted

to complete my career.

But instead, it made me bottle it up...

for some other time in the future.

And so many people told me,

"What is delayed is not denied.

Keep the faith."

It's a scripture, and that stuck with me.

Because it is the only thing
that made me feel better.

And then, when Carolyn Peck,
when she was commentating,

she saw our team,
she saw how good we were,

our program was becoming.

We had quality kids,
we had quality players in,

and she... She saw it, she was like,

"You're gonna win a National Championship.
I'm gonna give you this."

A piece of her National Championship net,
when she was coaching at Purdue.

And she just said,
"When you win a National Championship...

just give it back to me."

It was a tangible piece of hope.

Hope to win a National Championship.

[all]
...on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us, this day, our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses...

- [woman 1] Let's get this done.
- [woman 2] On three.

- 1, 2, 3.
- [all] Together!

I put it in my wallet.

And it was in my wallet for two years.

[commentator 12] Welcome to the 2017
NCAA Women's National Championship.

Here's the tip, and we are in play.

Every now and then, I would touch it.
Sometimes I wouldn't touch it,

sometimes I would just
visually look at it, just as a reminder.

[crowd cheers]

It made me coach a little bit better.

It made me prep a little bit harder.

It made me pour into our players
a little bit better.

[whistle blows]

It just created that hope that I needed
during that...

that quest to win a National Championship.

[crowd cheering]

[announcer] A'ja Wilson!

[commentator 9]
You could argue that Staley

is one of the most important
college coaches in the country.

She was named the head coach
of the US national team,

that will represent the country
in the Olympics.

And with this being the first Final Four

since the late great Pat Summitt,
who will be next to take that torch?

You'd have to assume Dawn
is a pretty worthy candidate.

[cheering]

What was going through my mind was...

I didn't want to show any emotion
until the final buzzer.

Although, I was... Inside, I was beaming.

[inaudible]

[cheering]

[Dawn] When we knew, our coaching staff,
we got into a huge huddle.

I left my head out of the huddle
'cause I wanted to look at them.

I wanted to see the joys, you know,
in their face.

I looked at them, like,
"I'm super proud of y'all.

I'm super proud. My heart is full,

because you put, you know, your blood,
sweat, and tears in this team."

And finally...
'Cause we've got coaches that coached,

you know, over 30 years,
and they've never won.

You know, they were like me.
We've never won a National Championship.

[commentator 13] National champions,
South Carolina Gamecocks!

[loud cheering]

[whooping, cheering]

[Dawn] You could hear our fans,

you could hear cheers from all over.

And then, finally,
I got a chance to walk those ladder steps.

And when I cut the net,
I did cut two pieces.

It was one to keep,

and one I've kept to share with
some other coach

who is close to winning
a National Championship,

that needs a tangible piece
of what that nylon feels like...

to win a National Championship.

The execution and the hard work
and the preparation,

you can't speed it up,
you can't slow it down.

But if you're able to be patient,

you're going to be successful.

It wasn't meant to be, for me to win
a National Championship in college.

So, somehow...

coaching found me.

It's strange,
because I never wanted to be a coach.

Most people say this
when they've won something big,

or they've gotten something big,

they say it was divine intervention.

But I say that in a loss,

because it was divine intervention.

It wasn't in the cards for us in 1991,

but just being dedicated to something
that you don't know

if you're ever gonna reach that pinnacle,
or not.

But when it happens,
when it truly happens to you...

you get to reflect on all...

the people.

Like, there's a village of people...

that allowed for that to happen.

[clapping, cheering]

[Dawn] All of those people,
they were pieces in my life's puzzle,

that were put in my life
for that moment to happen.

This was hard, but you can do it too.

Because...

I'm... I'm just like you.

I'm just like you, in that I've failed.

I've gotten knocked down.

So, all of those challenging things
happened, but yet...

I'm the last woman standing.

[cheers echoing]

[instrumental music playing]