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South Carolina’s Dawn Staley: ‘I don’t want to coach in the men’s game’

(Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Dawn Staley isn’t leaving South Carolina women’s basketball for the men’s game any time soon.

A few may have floated the idea of her leaving for the men’s head coaching position at Temple before the school hired Penn State associate head coach Adam Fisher. And while the chatter wasn’t very loud, it still caught the attention of some – enough so that Staley was asked about it Thursday as her team prepared for the Final Four.

“No thoughts. I don’t want to coach in the men’s game,” Staley said when asked if she had given the job any thought. She ended with a joke about Philadelphia’s weather: “It’s cold up there, too.”

CBS Sports analyst Seth Davis was the first to float the idea of Staley as a top-tier candidate for the Owls. After all, she is a native of Philadelphia and a “proven winner.” While some thought it a good idea, others said the men’s gig “would be a step down” for the two-time national championship coach.

Even musician Darius Rucker, a South Carolina alum, chimed in.

“U really think @dawnstaley wants to leave the Dynasty that she has built at @GamecockWBB. Wow. Awful take there,” Rucker tweeted.

But it’s not the first time Staley has been mentioned as a candidate for a men’s basketball job. Back in 2021, she was linked to the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.

“I’ve talked to the Portland Trail Blazers, and that’s the extent of it,” Staley said during a Zoom call with reporters in 2021. “I’ve talked to them.”

Staley isn’t the only women’s basketball coach to field questions about coaching in the men’s game. Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon was long tossed around as an option for NBA head coaching positions after spending a significant amount of time as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.

“I don’t need so-and-so to tell me I’m a good coach,” Hammon said about her switch to the WNBA. “I don’t need somebody’s stamp of approval.”

PWHL Unveils Championship Rings for 2024 Walter Cup Winners Minnesota

A top and inside view of the Minnesota Frost's 2024 PWHL championship ring.
The Minnesota Frost won the first-ever Walter Cup in 2024. (PWHL)

With the puck dropping on the league's second postseason next week, the PWHL unveiled the Minnesota Frost's 2024 Walter Cup championship rings on Monday.

The reveal came as part of the league's multi-year partnership announcement with Paris Jewellers Canada, a family-owned jewelry brand that the PWHL has tapped to create its championship rings for years to come.

In order to personalize the championship jewelry, the design of the 2024 title-winning rings included input from inaugural victors Minnesota.

Fashioned from sterling silver, the rings feature an image of the Walter Cup. Surrounding the trophy are 74 diamonds, in honor of the goals scored by the team throughout their first season, as well as 18 purple amethyst stones representative of the squad's total 2023/24 wins.

The rings also bear inscriptions of the May 29th, 2024, championship game date and 3-0 winning score, the Frost's "Win One Game" motto, and each athlete's name and jersey number.

The champs received their rings in a private celebration on Sunday.

"This group will always carry the honor of being the first team in PWHL history to win the Walter Cup," said Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield.  "Now, we will forever have these special championship rings that encapsulate the journey to the top."

With the 2024/25 PWHL regular season closing on May 3rd, the Frost are locked in a battle with the Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge for the two remaining playoff spots.

For a shot at defending their 2024 title, Minnesota must win their final two games by defeating both Ottawa and Boston this week.

US Tennis Stars Gauff, Keys Shine at 2025 Madrid Open Amid Blackouts

US star Coco Gauff returns the ball during her 2025 Madrid Open Round of 16 victory.
Major power outages impacted the 2025 Madrid Open this week. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Though rolling blackouts across the region suspended play at the 2025 Madrid Open on Monday, many top US talents are working their way through the clay court competition to great success.

World No. 4 Coco Gauff dispatched Switzerland's No. 42 Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 in Monday's Round of 16, exiting the court just before the arena lost power.

"I feel like, at this point, this is only a situation you can laugh at if I was on court," Gauff said after her post-match interview was cut short by a deadened mic. "Because it's probably not going to happen ever again, and we'll always remember the day the power went out at Madrid Open."

Gauff next faces No. 7 Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, where a win could see her swap places with the now-ousted Jessica Pegula in the WTA rankings to reclaim No. 3 — and resume her title as the highest-ranked US player.

The rest of the Round of 16 resumed early Tuesday morning, with fellow US star and world No. 5 Madison Keys taking down Croatia's No. 21 Donna Vekić 6-2, 6-3 before No. 2 Iga Świątek eked out a win against No. 13 Diana Shnaider 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4.

Keys and Świątek will now square off in the quarterfinals — their first meeting since Keys upset the Polish star in January's Australian Open semifinal.

How to watch the 2025 Madrid Open quarterfinals

The 2025 Madrid Open quarterfinals kick off at 4 AM ET on Wednesday. Coverage of the tournament will continue to air live on the Tennis Channel.

NWSL Submits Division II League Proposal to US Soccer

An NWSL ball sits on the pitch before a 2025 regular-season game.
The NWSL is planning its own Division II player development system. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)

The NWSL has submitted a formal application to US Soccer to launch a Division II league in 2026, with CBS Sports first reporting the league's move to strengthen player development in a shifting domestic landscape early last Friday.

Similar to the academy system overseas, the lower league would serve as both a testing ground and feeder system for the top-flight NWSL, keeping talent in-house while also providing professional resources and competition.

Eight NWSL clubs — North Carolina, Kansas City, Louisville, Gotham, Orlando, Bay FC, Seattle, and Washington — will participate in the second-tier league's inaugural year. The NWSL intends for all clubs to join within Division II's first four years.

Rapid growth reflects increased demand for women's soccer

Pro sports in the US have long relied on the NCAA to prepare future prospects, but with more young players forgoing NCAA soccer to sign pro contracts directly — not to mention the abolishment of the NWSL draft last season — new leagues are emerging to meet the development demand across North America.

Division I operations like the USL Super League and Canada's Northern Super League offer fully professional opportunities, while the amateur-focused WPSL will launch its own second-tier league, WPSL Pro, in 2026.

That said, the NWSL's Division II league would be the only secondary system sharing ownership, infrastructure, and staffing with top NWSL sides.

According to The Athletic, the NWSL has yet to agree upon full details for the new venture, with the submission primarily intended to meet a sanctioning deadline.

Should the application prove successful, club soccer in the US will see a rapid expansion, growing from a single pro league in 2023 to two Division I and two Division II leagues by 2026.

WNBA Drops Preseason Broadcast Details As Training Camp Tips Off

Las Vegas's Jackie Young defends Dallas's Arike Ogunbowale during a 2024 WNBA game.
The Aces and Wings will tip off the 2025 WNBA preseason. (Candice Ward/Getty Images)

As WNBA training camps tip off this week, the league announced Monday that fans will be able to watch live coverage of the entire 15-game preseason lineup for the first time in history.

"With superstars returning to the arenas where they starred in college and in some cases, teams from around the world serving as opponents, [the broadcast schedule] brings an entirely new level of excitement to the WNBA preseason," said WNBA chief growth officer Colie Edison in a statement.

Starting this Friday, four preseason matchups will air nationally:

  • Dallas Wings vs. Las Vegas Aces, May 2nd at 7 PM ET (ION)
  • Brazil National Team vs. Chicago Sky, May 2nd at 9 PM ET (ION)
  • Washington Mystics vs. Indiana Fever, May 3rd at 1 PM ET (NBA TV)
  • Brazil National Team vs. Indiana Fever, May 4th at 4 PM ET (ESPN2)

The remaining 11 games plus three of the four aforementioned nationally broadcast games will be available to stream for free on the WNBA App. The lone exception is Indiana's May 4th game against Brazil.

Roster cuts loom in WNBA preseason

The preseason broadcast moves underscores fan excitement surrounding the 2025 season at a time when teams across the country are tackling the often tough realities of training camp.

All 13 WNBA franchises must narrow their 18-player preliminary rosters down to 11 or 12 players by May 16th's season tip-off, meaning college favorites and vets on the bubble will battle for spots in the still-growing league.

The delayed arrival of international prospects complicates this process, as high-profile recruits like 2025 No. 2 overall pick Dominique Malonga are still to report to due to conflicting global schedules.

Last season, only 13 of the 36 players taken in the 2024 WNBA Draft made the league's opening-day cut.

Roster adjustments will undoubtedly surface throughout the coming weeks, as teams prepare to play out a competitive preseason slate — now on the public stage.

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