“I saw that she had something special, and had the opportunity to be the next one,” Peck said. A couple years later, Staley became the second Black head coach to win a title, and pulled that piece of net out of her wallet to show reporters at the postgame news conference.
As of this week, seven Black coaches have led teams to the women’s Final Four. Two of those seven, Staley and Arizona Coach Adia Barnes, are in this Final Four. It will be the first time that two Black head coaches will compete in the same year in the national semifinals.