South Carolina’s Dawn Staley says money is driving transfer portal recruiting talks more than ever

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Dawn Staley says her conversations with recruits have changed over the past few years, with finances becoming a top point of discussion, especially with players in the transfer portal.

The South Carolina coach said Sunday that in the past, she would emphasize getting a college degree when she spoke to potential transfers and recruits.

“How much is it going to cost us? That’s the conversation. You’ve got to lead with that,” Staley said as the Gamecocks prepare to face TCU in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament. “Because you don’t really want to waste your time. You either are going to have enough to pay players, or you don’t. And you move on.”

In the name, likeness and image era, money is the main thing many players in the portal care about.

“Because although you can promise a young person this or that, if your budget says otherwise — I don’t like to promise anything that isn’t available to us,” she said. “I don’t want to have to go out and get the money because you could be told no and then your back is against the wall.”

Staley added that it may not be the first question she asks, but she has no choice but to bring it up.

“I won’t say I lead with that question, but I get to it fairly quickly,” she said. “After the pleasantries are done, you have to get to the question so you’re not wasting your time and spinning your wheels on somebody that you can’t afford.”

The Gamecocks have three transfers on their roster, all of whom are seniors — Ta’Niya Latson, Madina Okot and Maryam Dauda.

Even with money being the focus, Staley and her staff still believe it’s important that their players graduate. She said all but one of her players has earned a degree and she threatened to put social media pressure on the one who hasn’t.

“We always have a plan no matter how many credits you come in with, a plan to get you out on time,” Staley said. “Any time (the players) come on a visit, you get the transcript and then we send the transcript off to our admissions and all that, and they give us what they need. And that’s part of the conversation. But all of our kids graduate, all of them but one in my career.”

The Gamecocks’ Elite Eight opponent, TCU, has relied on the transfer portal, adding several high-profile players over the last three years, including current stars Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez.

“We’ve built our program literally all through the portal, for you guys that haven’t followed us,” Horned Frogs coach Mark Campbell said. “I think we’ve had 18 portal players, six each year. And our program’s come a long ways. There’s a lot of negative you hear about the portal. I think there’s a lot of positive too.”

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