Winner’s circle: Aces’ Dawn Staley and USWNT’s Emma Hayes are ‘two of a kind’

Admittedly, Dawn Staley is not some kind of soccer savant.

But ever since meeting Emma Hayes, her knowledge has grown immensely.

“When she teaches it, it makes sense,” Staley recently told FOX Sports. “If I’m just watching it, some of the stuff doesn’t make sense. She gave me some in-game strategy. Like, how you cut the field off and ball movement. So things like that, that I had no idea. I knew they were scheming, but I couldn’t see it. Because I probably don’t watch enough soccer.”

It should probably come as no surprise that Staley and Hayes are friends. They’re both among the highest-paid and most successful coaches in their respective sports. They’re proven winners, direct leaders and have always been vocal advocates for women.

Or as Hayes put it recently: “Dawn and I are two of a kind. And honestly, what an incredible coach she is.”

The feeling is mutual. The coaches built a friendship through the Nike Think Tank — a collaborative group of women coaches and athletes who come together and share insights with each other. Hayes and Staley clicked instantly.

“Emma’s got it going on,” Staley said. “Like, she’s got it going on.

“It was great to hear her talk [when we met], to hear her speak on some of the challenges that she faces as a woman, as a female coach, as a successful coach, how she handles media. I think it’s fascinating to see how other people operate in that space.”

Staley went to the World Cup last summer and joined Hayes in a suite for the semifinal and final in Sydney. Staley said the two coaches only talked during halftime because Hayes was locked in watching many of her now former Chelsea players try to win a World Cup for England.

“You know that student-athlete who’s finished their work in study hall and doesn’t have anything else to do and they start bothering other people? That was probably me during the World Cup because [the U.S. wasn’t] in it,” Staley said, laughing. “So yeah, it was just cool. I’d sit back and watch her reactions.”

[RELATED: 2024 Olympic soccer odds: USWNT favored to win gold; Spain closing in]

Hayes was hired to coach the U.S. women’s national team back in November, but didn’t take over fully until late May after finishing her tenure with Chelsea. Hayes dove head first into her first camp with the squad in June, named an 18-player Olympics roster later that month, and on Thursday, the team flew to France in preparation for their first match at the Paris Games. The USWNT was drawn into a challenging group that includes Zambia (July 25), Germany (July 28) and Australia (July 31) and hopes to show the world how far it’s come since last summer’s World Cup disappointment.

It was that setback, though, that created this opportunity for Hayes. When Staley heard rumblings that her friend could end up being the next U.S. coach, she obviously texted her.

“I was like, ‘Hey! What’s up?'” Staley said with a chuckle. “And she would tell me she couldn’t talk. So that was the clue like, ‘Hey, yeah! We’ve got ourselves a coach!’ One that I actually know, so that was pretty cool.”

Staley, who led South Carolina to its second national championship in three years earlier this spring, said she has a “great deal of respect” for Hayes and looks up to her “because she’s the best in her field.” They don’t get to hang out as often as they’d like, but text or FaceTime each other when their schedules are calm. Staley caught the USWNT’s friendly match against Mexico last Saturday, but then missed an organized Zoom meeting sendoff for the team because she was traveling.

“I just consider her a really good friend,” Staley said. “I know there’s some similarities in what we do, being female coaches and successful female coaches. That sometimes is a lonely place to be. And there are things that we just lean on each other for that will just help expand us and help us grow.”

Staley has four Olympic gold medals — three as a player, one as a coach — and was the U.S. flag bearer at the 2004 Games in Athens. She’s going to Paris this summer as a fan, and plans to see the USWNT play. She hopes Hayes will come to a Gamecocks game this season. She has an open invitation. 

“She better,” Staley said. “She better.”

Staley isn’t the only legendary coach that Hayes has befriended. While the USWNT was training in Colorado during its June camp, Hayes set up a meeting for her team with Deion Sanders. Hayes joked then that she was “fangirling” the whole time and that she and Sanders hit it off while talking about their passion for coaching. Add him to her list of coaching mentors and inspirations, which includes a wide range of experience from longtime Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to North Carolina women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance to Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson and more.

Hayes and Staley legacies reach far beyond their sport and are important examples of women publicly supporting each other at the highest level. Of course, Staley has been doing this for some time, famously sharing pieces of her national championship net with other Black women’s coaches and journalists who have been part of elevating the women’s game.

“It’s important because we really haven’t done that for each other,” Staley said. “And our male counterparts, they do it all the time. They’ve all done it. They recycle each other, they look out for each other, they keep the greats in the game by hiring them in some capacity. And now it’s our time to really lock in to looking out for each other, to leaning on each other and not feel like we’re vulnerable to each other because when it’s all said and done, it’s just a game.”

“We’ve just been inspired by each other,” Staley added.

Hayes’ long term goal is to rebuild the USWNT back into a world championship winning team, ideally by the next World Cup in 2027. She’s carefully introduced her style and vision for the team, as well as drilled down the importance of trust and process. The team has played four games with her on the sideline, three wins and one draw, and there’s still work to be done. Whether the team comes home from Paris with a gold medal or no medal, this summer is a learning experience that will push the team forward.

And regardless of the outcome, Staley knows Hayes is the right person to turn this thing around.

“When you look at her history,” Staley said, “success is success.

“That’s not to say the other coaches weren’t successful, because they were. It’s just when you know you bring a different type of credibility. And I think there’s a female movement now. We believe in each other, we want the best for each other. So I think the timing is the key to it all.”

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.

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