Well Played, Dawn Staley and Jubilant Badass Athletes

Final 12 months, after LSU received the title over Iowa, I did a lighthearted submit on Kim Mulkey’s outfits with out realizing the extent to which Mulkey belongs on Rubbish Island. Her being horrible doesn’t erase what she’s achieved or something, however I additionally used that submit to complain that faculties don’t sufficiently worth the brilliance of their feminine coaches and girls’s groups… and if I’d recognized extra in regards to the extent of her terribleness, I certain wouldn’t have chosen her as my poster youngster. Gah.

Excellent news: This 12 months, I can supply an antidote to that well-intentioned mistake. The ultimate sport gave us TWO coaches who look like nice human beings, in Iowa’s Lisa Bluder and South Carolina’s Daybreak Staley. The Gamecocks fairly convincingly topped Iowa for an undefeated season and title victory — in entrance of 18 million viewers — and Staley guided them to her third championship there in seven years (!) with new starters and robust freshman assist off the bench. Her groups are 109-3 within the final three seasons. That’s… astonishing. She is, by all accounts, a category act along with a superb coach, and deserves all of the flowers and crowns. And, for our functions, she additionally wears plenty of good jackets that do NOT make her appear like endangered birds. Let’s flip by and have a good time her, and with her.

[Photos: John Byrum, M. Anthony Nesmith, Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Lance King, Eakin Howard, Thearon W. Henderson, Ron Jenkins, Kevin C. Cox, Jacob Kupferman, Andy Lyons, Sarah Stier, Ben Solomon, Steph Chambers, Jason Miller, Gregory Shamus/Getty Images, Thien-An Truong/ISI Photos/Getty Images]