‘I Will Beat Geno’s Ass’: On Dawn Staley, Black Women, And Disrespect In The Workplace
The backlash following UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s outburst at South Carolina coach Dawn Staley in the closing seconds of their national semifinal matchup on Friday night has drawn a considerable amount of media attention and support from fans of both teams. Coach Auriemma sparked the heated exchange by allegedly accusing Coach Staley of not shaking his hand before the game, an accusation refuted by a video aired by ESPN that shows the two exchanging handshakes.
As Staley walked away from Auriemma, she yelled, “I will beat Geno’s ass,” a line that has since gone viral with at least one sports bar adding the phrase to its marquee.
In an interview on Saturday, one of Coach Auriemma’s former star players, retired WNBA player Diana Taurasi, downplayed the exchange between the rival coaches, saying it was nothing more than “two people competing at the highest level that have a tremendous amount of respect for each other.”
But, for many Black women, Auriemma’s behavior reflects a familiar dynamic many of us have encountered in the workplace where no matter how hard we work, we still face discrimination and disrespect from white colleagues.
Many of us are taught before we set foot in our first office jobs that to be a Black woman in the workplace means we have to work twice as hard to be twice as good, only to get half as far.
According to a 2020 study released by Lean In and McKinsey and Company, Black women “experience a wider range of microaggressions” and are “more likely to have their judgment questioned in their area of expertise and to be asked to provide additional evidence of their competence.”
As a longtime newsroom leader who has occupied top high level editorial positions at some of the top news organizations in the country, I’ve experienced this more times than I can count. I’ve had my editorial judgment questioned in ways and with a level of veracity my white peers do not experience. I have never been accused of not shaking someone’s hand before a game, but I have experienced managers dwelling on trivialities unrelated to my work and calling into question my personal ethics and professionalism.
Over the past several decades, Coach Dawn Staley has emerged as a legendary figure in women’s basketball who has shown she’s willing to work twice as hard.
The four-time U.S. Olympic gold medal winner (three as a player and one as head coach in 2021) played seven seasons in the WNBA, and for most of those seasons, she simultaneously coached Temple University’s women’s basketball team.
In 2008, Staley joined the University of South Carolina Gamecocks as head coach, and she built the program into the powerhouse it is today. During her tenure, the Gamecocks won their first national championship in 2017, followed by two more championship wins in 2022 and 2024.
Staley’s successes have earned her the unique distinction of being the only person to win the prestigious Naismith Award as both a player and a coach. Twice as good, indeed.
What makes Auriemma’s accusations all the more appalling is that Staley has also proven to be twice as kind behind the scenes. She’s earned a reputation for showing compassion and care that goes beyond what could reasonably be labeled as good coaching or good sportsmanship.
After the Gamecocks defeated the Southern University women’s basketball team at the start of this year’s March Madness tournament, she gifted the Southern University players with Louis Vuitton perfume. When asked by a reporter what prompted her offering, she explained that it was a small gesture for the players after a couple of the young women had complimented her and asked her what scent she was wearing.
Staley is also known for greeting the long line of people seated courtside in the media row, something she did prior to the start of Friday’s UConn game.
When reporters asked Auriemma to comment on what had occurred in the final seconds of that game, he stood by his words and actions and withheld an apology for his behavior. He didn’t feel it was warranted.
While Auriemma was standing his ground, Staley continued to show up as she always has. During the UCLA v. Texas matchup that followed her team’s win, she was seen in the stands graciously posing for pictures and signing autographs for fans.
In an interview early Saturday, Auriemma was asked by a reporter if he had a personal relationship with Staley, and he said “Nah, not really. We don’t have a lot in common.” While Auriemma went on to say he respected the work Staley had done to build the Gamecocks basketball program into the strong program it is today, his dismissiveness about whether the two had a personal connection was at best peculiar and at worst unnecessary.
It is well known that college basketball coaches spend a considerable amount of their personal time thinking, talking, and obsessing over basketball. As coaches of elite teams, Auriemma and Staley compete for the same titles and live the same year-round grind and high pressure that only a handful of similarly situated coaches can relate to and understand.
While I don’t expect rival coaches to be best friends, Auriemma could have chosen not to respond to that part of the question and simply shared how much respect he has for Staley as a coach. After all, Auriemma is a seasoned coach and well-versed in how to maneuver tough questions from reporters. He knew better.
The framing Auriemma chose, coming from a white coach about a Black woman coach, echoes a familiar pattern for Black people in the workplace. We are subjected to offhanded remarks, and our excellence is treated as a separate rather than shared experience, even when the work, pressure, and stakes that go into achieving success are virtually identical.
According to Lean In’s 2025 annual report on Women in the Workplace, these unique stressors for Black women in the workplace are taking a toll on our health. The researchers noted that “almost 8 in 10 senior-level Black women have been frequently burned out in the past year, and even more are concerned about their job security– more than other senior leaders.” This, at a time when companies are increasingly seeing diversity and DEI as a liability, and labor data show that Black women are facing higher rates of unemployment when compared to the general population. More than 300,000 Black women became newly unemployed in 2025, a sharp rise.
After demands for Auriemma to apologize reached a fever pitch, on Saturday afternoon, UConn released a statement from Coach Auriemma that read in part, “There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina. It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut.” He then offered a broad apology to “the staff and the team at South Carolina,” saying his reaction was “uncalled for.”
Missing from Auriemma’s apology was any direct mention of Staley, something that a broad cross-section of fans, celebrities, and sports enthusiasts took issue with on social media. Several demanded that he issue another statement and apologize to Staley directly. His statement once again detracts from Staley and her team’s success.
As the late Toni Morrison once explained:
“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing”.
For Geno Auriemma, on Friday night, that “one more thing” was his accusation that Coach Staley missed a pre-game handshake. That unwieldy accusation prompted the press and fans alike to go on the hunt and offer up video footage that might show whether she missed one or both customary pre-game handshakes. On Saturday, that “one more thing” was a lackluster statement from Auriemma when Staley deserved a genuine (and direct) apology.
What this “one more thing” distracted from was the reality that Dawn Staley outcoached him and her team outplayed his. He robbed Staley and her team of the usual celebratory cheers and hugs at the end of a double-digit win. His behavior left no space to give the Gamecocks credit for their win against a team that had gone undefeated for 54 games before South Carolina single-handedly snapped their winning streak and ended their dreams of back-to-back championship wins.
He also distracted from the usual post-game analysis of what would have surely included data illustrating the Gamecocks were not only better prepared but the better team. The analysis would have included praising the stellar defense played by Gamecocks’ senior Raven Johnson, who is positioned to be a first round pick in the upcoming WNBA draft.
As the viewership and fan base of women’s basketball continue to expand, and with Morrison’s words in mind, the point is that we should not fall into the habit of litigating every moment or handshake, but to return to what this is really about.
Sunday, a championship game is happening between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the UCLA Bruins. This game will be coached by two phenomenal women and the players who take the court are all members of number one seeded teams. They are playing at the highest level of a sport that has never been more visible, more competitive or more representative of its fans and this country.
So, as I sit down and watch the two teams duke it out for a championship ring, I will be keeping focus on where it belongs, on the game, and the people on and off the court who continue to elevate it. Oh, and GOOOOO Gamecocks!
Now someone please run me one of those “I will beat Geno’s ass” t-shirts. Whether the Gamecocks win or lose, I’m wearing it through next season.
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