Riley Gaines Slams S.C. Coach’s Push for Trans Athletes on Women’s Team: ‘She Doesn’t Have Courage to Stand with Women’

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Reporter: “Undefeated South Carolina has won its third national championship.”
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KILMEADE: “South Carolina beating Caitlin Clark in Iowa last night, but not before his head coach made these controversial remarks the day before.”
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Stanley: “If you’re a woman you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play.”
Reporter: “Do you think transgender women should be able to participate in women’s college basketball?”
Stanley: “That’s the question you want me to ask? I mean, you want to ask. I’ll give you that. Yes.”
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KILMEADE: “So, that’s Dawn Stanley. Really stunning. Our next guest lost an NCAA championship to a trans athlete as you know, former swimmer Division One swimmer, ‘Outkick’ contributor Riley Gaines joins us now. Riley, Dawn Stanley, the point guard, do you think that she want to play against men? Does she really believe what she’s saying? It’s OK for transgender athletes to play against women?”
GAINES: “Of course, I don’t think she believes this. And look, I love and respect Dawn Staley. Two championships in three years. In three years at South Carolina, she’s won two championships. I think her record is 109-3, that’s unprecedented. So — so clearly, she’s great at what she does, and she’s developed many incredible athletes whom I admire, but she’s either proven yourself to your point to be entirely incompetent, or a sellout. And personally, I don’t — I don’t think she believes what she said. If you watch the video, her silence, the hesitation and that drink of water, I think it spoke volumes. I think she knew she had to be politically correct. And I know about as good as anyone that that pressure exists, and it’s real. But the bottom line is she knows perfectly well that men’s basketball, it’s a totally different sport than women’s basketball. That’s obvious by the speed of the game, the size of the ball, the sheer amount of layups in women’s basketball compared to dunks when a player gets a fast break in men’s basketball, the distance of the three point line, the list goes on. So what I think this boils down to is she didn’t have the courage to stand with women. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her and she blew it. And — and truthfully, my guess is she’s OK with it, until her team defeated by one or more men playing on the opposite team.”
KILMEADE: “People should understand that Lia Thomas when he declared himself a man was a — was a Division One swimmer but not great. He became a dominant women’s swimmer. If there’s a Division One player at the end of the UConn men’s bench, and he played for the UConn Huskies women’s team, they’d win the national championship by 20.”
GAINES: “Imagine in her day Brian, right, if — if Karl Malone or David Robinson woke up one morning and said I feel like a woman today, we would have no idea who Dawn Staley is. It’s always funny to me how these things become OK to those who it has no influence upon. Dawn knows sure and well that she would never be a Hall of Famer if she played against men, period. So it’s irresponsible and unfair for her and other retired — retired female players like Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Billie Jean King and all sports to conveniently say they’re now OK with this. Because what they’re doing is pulling up the ladder behind them.”
KILMEADE: “Yeah, I thought that was pretty good. Piers Morgan said something similar. Would it be good if Lebron James decided to be a woman goes into the WNBA how would that go? Again people don’t have the guts that you have. Riley Gaines, thanks so much. Look forward to listen to you on ‘Outkick.’ Appreciate it. And I will try to crush evil if I have some time, like your shirt says.”