Staley stands by decision to cancel BYU seris

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley stands by her decision to cancel the program’s series with Brigham Young University.

The decision came after a BYU fan allegedly directed a racial slur at Rachel Richardson, a black volleyball player for Duke.

BYU first apologized but later reversed it’s apology after an internal investigation did not reveal any evidence. Staley said Wednesday their investigation doesn’t change Richardson’s own personal account.

“Did the young lady come out and say that she apologized for hearing something wrong?” Staley asked back when questioned about her stance. “Did she come out and say that? Ok so that’s her story. So that’s what she’s sticking with. Until she comes out and says that, I’ll be the first to apologize. I’ll be the first to say I’m wrong. But that has yet to come out. So that’s what I’m sticking with.”

South Carolina was scheduled to open their season against BYU on November 7 in Columbia. The Gamecocks announced they will now host East Tennessee State University on that same date.

“I exchanged information with BYU and Duke and I still came to the same conclusion,” Staley said after practice Wednesday. “We’re just going to have to agree to disagree, agreeably in this instance. Anything that has come out of Duke’s side of it. That’s what they came out with. Whatever comes out from the BYU side of it. That’s their side of it. There’s different perspectives on it. We all have a perspective. Whether you like it or not is a perspective. We choose to go with what we believe is the truth for us.”

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