However, the letter did not demonstrate if or when Staley had compelled the speech or actions of students or other coaches to conform to her Christian beliefs, instead focusing on her public statements about her own faith, which are constitutionally protected.
Nevertheless, the letter argued, “Coaches exert great influence and power over student athletes and those athletes will follow the lead of their coach.”
“This is especially true for powerhouse programs like the University of South Carolina’s women’s basketball team that have had so much success,” the letter continued. “Using a coaching position, especially one of this stature, to promote Christianity amounts to religious coercion.”
The question of if and how sports coaches are allowed to speak about their faith or engage in religious activities with student players has long been disputed among legal experts, but the courts have tended to side with coaches.
Perhaps the most notable recent example is that of Joe Kennedy, a football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington, who was suspended in 2015 for praying with students in the locker room and on the field.
In 2022, the United State Supreme Court ruled that Kennedy’s prayers were protected under the First Amendment. Kennedy was reinstated as a coach at Bremerton High School in 2023, but he later resigned, saying that he was made to feel “like an outsider.”
In an interview with FOX Carolina News on Wednesday, Staley defended her postgame comments.
“When you really can’t explain why great things happen to you—some people can say, ‘Oh, it’s my hard work,’” Staley said. “Well, everybody works hard…I know personally what God has done for me.”
“And here’s the thing,” she went on to say. “I said, ‘If you don’t know there’s a God, then something’s wrong with you.’ What if I said, ‘If you don’t watch women’s basketball, something’s seriously wrong with you’? Would you take it as threatening?”
“I mean, it’s a figure of speech,” Staley added. “If you can’t comprehend that, then tune me out. Tune me out, because I’m not here to offend anybody. That is not my makeup; that is not my character.”
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Staley said that she is “not gonna apologize” for her remarks. Instead, she said, “I’m gonna salute God as much as I can, because I know it’s not just my doing.”
, an organization that exists “to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church,” has taken aim at University of South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley for referencing her faith in a postgame interview. ){kind=link}