South Carolina, Dawn Staley adding former player to Gamecocks coaching staff

Thanks to an NCAA rule change, the South Carolina women’s basketball is adding another assistant coach — and she’s a well known Gamecocks alum.

Former USC point guard Khadijah Sessions is joining Dawn Staley’s staff as an assistant coach, the program announced Thursday.

Sessions played four seasons for the Gamecocks from 2013-16, helping South Carolina win five SEC regular-season/tournament titles and reach its first Final Four in program history. After graduation, Sessions played overseas in Finland for Team USA in the 2019 FIBA AmeriCup.

Since retirement, Sessions has worked as a private trainer in the Columbia area and an AAU coach. She spent two seasons as Ridge View High School’s JV head coach and also worked as a varsity assistant coach there.

“I’m super excited to be joining Coach Staley and the staff,” Sessions said in a release. “I gave every inch of me to this university as a player, and I’m ready to do the same as an assistant coach. I absolutely love the University of South Carolina, and to be doing this alongside the GOAT – I couldn’t ask for a better college start. Coaching is something I take pride in, and I’m just ready to get to work, learn and grow.”

Sessions’ hiring follows an NCAA rule change that went into effect July 1 and allowed Division I women’s basketball programs to add two more assistant coaches. They were previously limited to three assistants.

Sessions joins associate head coach Lisa Boyer and assistant coaches Jolette Law and Winston Gandy as assistants for Staley’s 2023-24 team. Gandy, formerly of Duke, was hired earlier this year to replace longtime assistant Fred Chmiel, who accepted Bowling Green’s head coaching job.

“There are few people who understand and embody what our program is about like Khadijah,” Staley said in a release. “From her vision and communication as a point guard to how she translated that into coaching at the high school level, she is ready for this move into the college ranks. I can’t wait to watch and help her develop in our sport.”