South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley Syndication: The Des Moines Register

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley has never shied away from talking about her Christian faith and has even developed a tradition of praying and reading scripture with her players. And after she led her team to the national title on Sunday afternoon, she had a pretty clear response to anyone who has a problem with her prayers.

After the game, Dawn Staley was asked about her Christian faith and her decision to pray with her players. And she made it clear that she has faced a lot of criticism for it.

“I have people who think what I do on game days should be banned,” Staley told Outkick. “[They think] I should not be the coach because of it.”

However, Staley insists that she does not force anything on her players and does everything she can to make sure she does not offend anybody.

“I don’t force anything on our players, not anything,” she said. “I have [a player] that is a Jehovah’s Witness. When we do our prayers and our scripture, I ask her, does it offend her? Because if it did, we would do something different.”

Prayer has become a key part of their team, and it doesn’t sound like she’s planning to change it.

[OutKick]