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Temple coach Dawn Staley is emerging as the front-runner to fill the women’s basketball head coaching vacancy at South Carolina.

Sources in Philadelphia said talks have heated up between Staley and the Gamecocks. Staley, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and former All-American point guard at Virginia, interviewed in Columbia, S.C., last week. She has been Temple’s head coach for eight years, leading the Owls to the NCAA tournament six times.

Tennessee associate head coach Holly Warlick has interviewed twice for the South Carolina job, which became available when Susan Walvius resigned under pressure last month. Warlick went to Columbia last Friday and toured the facilities.

The crucial variable in the talks with Staley figures to be money. Staley’s guaranteed financial package at Temple is believed to be $400,000, which is double the amount Walvius made at South Carolina. Furthermore, Staley’s six-year contract is believed to have a substantial buyout.

Along with coaching at Temple, Staley is an assistant coach with the U.S. women’s national team.

Tennessee has to fill one assistant’s spot after Nikki Caldwell left last month to become the head coach at UCLA. Former Lady Vol Daedra Charles Furlow has interviewed for the opening and is expected to be named as Caldwell’s replacement.

Butts Cut: Former Tennessee Lady Vol Tasha Butts has been waived by the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.

The Dream waived former Lady Vols guard Brittany Jackson on Sunday.

Butts is an assistant coach at Duquesne.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.