Riley Gaines calls champion NCAA coach an incompetent sellout for supporting trans women

Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines has been on a tear since champion NCAA women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley voiced support for trans athletes ahead of her team winning the national championship game.

Staley – coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks – slammed a right-wing reporter who asked her whether she believes trans women should have the right to compete as women, accusing said reporter of trying to cause a distraction before the big game.

Related: Almost all of 2023’s most challenged books were LGBTQ+

Several were also about people of color.

“Now, the barnstorm of people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m okay with that, I really am,” Staley said after making it very clear she supports trans women athletes.

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Far right content creator: "Do you think that trans women should be able to play women's sports?"

Dawn Staley, coach of SC's women's basketball team, doesn't hold back: "Yes… and people are going to flood my timeline… and I'm ok with that."

Wow!pic.twitter.com/XxLDwDZUdB

— Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) April 6, 2024

As Staley predicted, the right is incensed over her comments. Gaines – who has built an entire career over the fact that she tied for fifth place with a trans woman during an NCAA swimming competition – appeared on Fox News to say Staley is either “entirely incompetent or a sellout” despite her stellar record as a coach.

“I don’t think she believes what she said,” Gaines claimed, adding that Staley appeared to hesitate as she spoke to reporters and positing that the fact that she took a drink of water while speaking “spoke volumes.”

Gaines then continued by explaining that men’s and women’s basketball are played differently, clearly implying her belief that trans women are not real women.

“I think she knew she had to be politically correct… But the bottom line is she knows that men’s basketball, it’s a totally different sport than women’s basketball… She didn’t have the courage to stand with women. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her, and she blew it.”

In a follow-up post on X, Gaines said she stands by her words “3000%” and continued to praise herself, declaring, “I hit the nail on the head.”

“Personally, I think she’s a sellout. I also think she’s a dang good coach. 109-3 over three seasons is unheard of. She can be both at the same time. Neither is mutually exclusive.”

And I stand by that 3000%

Personally, I think she's a sellout. I also think she's a dang good coach. 109-3 over three seasons is unheard of. She can be both at the same time. Neither is mutually exclusive

Thanks for posting the clip. Watching it back, I hit the nail on the head https://t.co/TBUXTc6I7g

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 9, 2024

Gaines has been crusading against the rights of trans athletes since she tied for fifth place with trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the women’s 200m freestyle final at the National Collegiate Athletics Association swimming and diving championships. She has claimed she was robbed of some sort of victory by having to share fifth place with a trans woman.

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