WATCH: 3X national champ Dawn Staley has hilarious reaction when Facetimed for Cowboys schedule release
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has been making the best of the offseason after leading her Gamecocks on a historic unbeaten national championship run. She has been roped into various marketing campaigns involving NBA teams, and an NFL franchise joined in on the fun recently.
The NFL used a gimmick to announce next season's games where a team's fans call a celebrity fan of their opponents and record their reactions.
For the week 17 game pitting the Dallas Cowboys against the Philadelphia Eagles, three-time national champion coach Dawn Staley was the recipient of such a call. The Gamecocks coach is a Philadelphia native and cheers the Philadelphia Eagles.
She answered the Facetime call, saw members of the Cowboys' organization, made a cringeworthy face at them and had a hilarious reaction.
"Yuck! The f**k are y'all doing," Staley said.
Dawn Staley is a staunch Philadelphia Eagles fan, regularly wearing the team's jerseys and courting support from members of the team with quarterback Jalen Hurts present when South Carolina won the national championship in April.
The Eagles and Cowboys have one of the NFC East's and NFL's most enduring rivalries, and her hilarious reaction was wholly justified by the context of the rivalry.
Reporters praise Dawn Staley for being open
During an interview with Front Office Sports, longtime reporter David Cloninger reported about the open-door policy that South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has cultivated as coach of the Gamecocks.
“She will always make time for whoever’s asking for a piece of her time. Even though these days, there are more and more people who are asking,” Cloninger said. “She’s never refused me an interview, even when you have to talk about difficult subjects.”
Staley is always open to questions from the press and gives every reporter two minutes and two questions after the game rather than taking questions as a lottery in the press room as most coaches do.
WYFF journalist Chase Justice explained to Front Office Sports how impressive it is that the popular South Carolina has not changed her approach to the media despite being in demand from bigger outlets.
“She could be off after these games doing quite literally anything that she wanted to,” Chase Justice said. “But she’s taking time to build connections with the media because she understands how far that coverage goes. That’s special, and that’s not something that happens very often.”
Even before she won her third national championship in impressive style, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley was well respected by fans, the media and analysts, her winning touch has only rocketed her popularity.