Leaders in the South Carolina athletic department made an important decision Friday. They decided to make woman’s basketball coach Dawn Staley the highest-paid women’s coach in the conference.

Staley arguably could be considered the best women’s basketball coach in the SEC since the late Pat Summitt at Tennessee.

Since being named head coach at South Carolina in 2008, Staley has won a national title in 2017, made 3 Final Four appearances, has 5 SEC regular-season championships and 6 SEC Tournament championships.

Gamecocks athletics director Ray Tanner praised Staley. He made these statements about her according to The State newspaper out of Columbia.

“Dawn Staley is one of the nation’s top coaches, regardless of the sport,” he said. “She has built our women’s basketball program from the ground up, and her teams have produced champions, both on and off the floor. The ability to keep Coach Staley at the University of South Carolina is great news for all Gamecocks. I join with our fans in looking forward to seeing the great achievements her program will continue to produce in the future.”

Staley will make $2.9 million for the 2021-22 season and her salary will increase to $3.5 million for the 2027-28 season, which will be the last year of the new contract.

Staley also released a statement about her new contract.

“It’s always been an honor to represent the University of South Carolina, and this contract represents the University’s commitment to supporting me and our women’s basketball program,” she said. Contract negotiations are challenging, but this one was especially important as I knew it could be a benchmark, an example for other universities to invest in their women’s basketball programs, too.”

The defending SEC Champs will open the season on Nov. 9 at North Carolina State on ESPN2.