Te-Hina Paopao’s heart was set on transferring to TCU.
After Oregon missed the 2023 NCAA Tournament, she entered the transfer portal as a junior seeking change. Mark Campbell, a former Ducks assistant and the new Horned Frogs coach, had recruited Paopao to Oregon years earlier, and they thrived together before he left for another job after her freshman season. She thought she had a plan. A reunion was forthcoming.
But as Paopao was driving to an early morning class last spring, she received a call from her high school coach, Terri Bamford. “Hey, South Carolina wants to talk to you,” Bamford told Paopao. “Dawn Staley wants to call you — like right now.”
Paopao pulled over immediately to focus. “South Carolina? South Carolina? Dawn Staley? The best program in the nation wants to hit me up?” she replied. “Absolutely give them my number. You can tell them to call me right now.”
For hundreds of recruits around the country, that’s what happens when Staley reaches out. You stop what you’re doing. You hit your car brakes and veer to the roadside. “I couldn’t believe that I was on the phone with Dawn,” Paopao said. “Dawn Staley of all people.”
There is Dawn Staley, the South Carolina women’s basketball head coach and winner of two national championships….
