Women’s basketball coach on court until 2019
For women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, talking to Ohio State bore plenty of fruit.
USC trustees approved a three-year contract extension and a new pay package for Staley Wednesday that includes a $300,000 retention bonus and a $125,000 raise, with more increases scheduled.
Under the new contract, Staley will be paid $850,000 per year, including $500,000 annually in media payouts. Those payouts will increase by $25,000 each year, so in 2019, she’ll receive $975,000.
She’ll also receive a total of $300,000 — $50,000 per year — in deferred pay if she stays at USC for the length of the contract, which ends in March 2019.
The pay raise follows back-to-back 25-win seasons and two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
It also comes just weeks after Staley was courted by The Ohio State University to fill its women’s coaching opening. Staley withdrew her name from consideration after meeting with university officials there.
“Coach Staley was a very important retention for the university and for me personally,” USC President Harris Pastides said. “I’m delighted with this particular package and think that it is fair to the university and hope it is attractive to her.”
Pastides said the new pay package was a response to the Ohio State talks, and that the university’s conversations with Staley have been “amicable.”
“She was very professional about it (and) did not play hard to get,” Pastides said.
The women’s team fell to 12-seed Kansas last month in the second round of the NCAA tournament after making it to the round of 16 in 2012. The 2012–13 season ended with a 25-8 record.
Last June, after the team’s 2012 performance, Staley received a $50,000 raise.
Staley was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last week after a career on the court that took her to the Olympics three times and won her three All-American recognitions at the University of Virginia.
“She stands for all the right things about the university — her work ethic, her former accomplishments, the fact that she’s taken her basketball program to be consistently competing for postseason play and championships,” Pastides said. “She’s very, very important to us.”