This past weekend was a big one for Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Minnesota as a whole. It’s the first time since the COVID pandemic, and the events surrounding the death of George Floyd, that we’ve hosted a major event with the Women’s Final Four taking place at Target Center.
The pomp and circumstance of major events in Minnesota is well worn of course. We’ve had all-star games, Super Bowls, and other big events over the years. The last time the women’s college championship was decided in Minnesota was 1995, almost 30 years ago.
That’s a lifetime or more in women’s athletics and the changes from that event to the 2022 championship are profound.
One of the themes around this year’s Final Four was a celebration of Title IX, the landmark ruling passed in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational institutions that receive government funding. Which of course includes the schools competing in the NCAA. That ruling put women’s sports on the map. It’s come a long ways in those 50 years.
There is also a long ways to go according to the women (and men) who are involved in college sports.
Lea B. Olsen played college basketball at the University of Minnesota and has been a broadcaster in the Twin Cities for many years. She was honored this past weekend during the Final Four for her contributions to women’s athletics.
Olsen told WCCO Radio’s Henry Lake that the timing is perfect to honor those women who paved the way.
“This happening at the same time with the 50th anniversary of Title IX was just so perfect because it brought so many other people into the conversation,” Olsen explained. “There's tons of business and corporate women who were athletes back in the day that had somewhat of a sporting experience or were left out, or were at the start of Title IX. And so throughout the week, and in the last couple months, we've really been able to hear a lot of those stories and how important sports has been in their lives.”
Olsen was part of the Equity Committee for the NCAA and says it was a focus of this year’s tournament, and they were determined to make it an equitable experience.
During last year’s women’s tournament, which took place in a bubble due to COVID, it became clear there were major differences between the men’s and women’s tournaments and the experiences for the players and coaches involved.
Several of the female players in San Antonio in 2021 shared clips on social media of their accommodations, particularly focused on the weight room. The NCAA had posted a time-lapse video of all that it took to set up the various equipment in the men’s weight room. Meanwhile, the women had nothing like it and were limited to just a couple pieces of workout equipment. The NCAA released a statement acknowledging that the facilities were different and saying that the issue had been a lack of space. Another player then responded by filming herself walking around the weight room, showing that there was plenty of space, but no equipment to fill it.
There were also significant differences in the food, the gifts players receive, and other frustrations with the women asking for an equitable experience.
While there is significant television money driving the men’s tournament compared to the women’s, the entire point of Title IX is to create equitable experiences. The TV money goes to the NCAA, the conferences and the schools. It’s up to those organizations to figure out how to spend it. It’s a disservice to the women who are competing not treat their game equal to the men, even if the TV audiences are disparate.
The Final Four in Minneapolis included a couple of basketball games, great players and great coaches who deserve equal recognition.
There is Minnesota’s own Paige Bueckers, not only one of the biggest stars in the women’s game, but one of the biggest names in all of college sports now. Bueckers, just a sophomore, has naturally become a huge draw in her home state. She’s the reigning national player of the year, the first to ever win that award as a freshman. She led her team to the Final Four again this season despite battling through injuries, and has already been crowned as one of the best players Geno Auriemma has coached in his time at UConn, a list that includes a roll call of the greatest players in women’s basketball history (Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Rebecca Lobo, etc.).
But there’s another story in Minneapolis’ Final Four, one pointed out by WCCO’s Henry Lake as crucial to the growth of the women’s game, and that is championship winning South Carolina's head coach Dawn Staley.
Lake was one of several Black journalists and broadcasters who were at the Final Four covering the games and festivities, something Staley said she needed to recognize.
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Staley is a hall of fame player, an All-American who took Virginia to three Final Fours and a national championship. She’s a pioneer of the early days of women’s professional basketball, playing in the fledgling ABL before being drafted into the WNBA in 1999. She not only was a captain for Team USA as a player, she has since coached the national team to a gold medal in Tokyo in 2020.
Now the head coach at South Carolina since 2008, Staley has led the Gamecocks to their only two national championships following their win Sunday night in Minneapolis. Her first came in 2017.
In her postgame press conference Sunday, Staley, who has been an outspoken advocate for not just women in athletics, but minority women, talked about how important this progress has been.
“A lot of times we’re not in the room,” Staley says about diversity. “Pretty much everybody could think the same ways because that’s the way the system worked. But the moment you bring a diverse person in the room, it’s a lot different from what the norm is. We need differences. I see Coach Boyers (SC Assistant) sitting here, we go at it sometimes, back and forth. We know at the end of the day it’s just love. I said a few choice words to her today during the game. But I listen to her, right? I don’t want someone saying the same things that I’m saying. You grow when there’s a different perspective in the room. You may not agree, you can agree to disagree agreeably, but you need diverse people in all walks of life, all professions, because that’s where growth takes place.”
Staley became the first Black Division I college basketball head coach, either female or male, to win multiple national championships. Add in her success with the international team, her success as a player, her success in leading young women, and this is clearly a person worth listening to.
Along with UConn coach Geno Auriemma, Staley has become the biggest face and voice in women’s college basketball. Lake explained that Staley went out her way to thank the Black journalists who were at Target Center covering the Final Four. Staley is advocating for more opportunities for Black coaches, and those people covering Black coaches and player in her game, and that it needs to also be reflected in our society.
The success she’s having will only make her voice louder. It may not be equal to the men yet. There are areas of diversity that need a lot of work in both athletics and society. But there was progress made in Minneapolis that points to that equality being attainable.
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