Dawn Staley's Unconventional Thanksgiving Meal Admission Is Fishy
Thanksgiving Day in the United States is the perfect time for sports fans to feel grateful for everything that living in America provides, including the right to exercise autonomy and free will.
One great example of this is getting to choose the food someone eats. Despite this freedom of choice, the majority of people spend Thanksgiving eating essentially the same thing. This includes all of the classic Thanksgiving dishes, including turkey, stuffing (or dressing, depending on where you're from), gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and a variety of pies.
However, that doesn't mean everyone is keen on eating these foods. Especially when it comes to turkey, some folks prefer some other main dish. This is not only owed to an individual's taste, but dietary restrictions and preferences make it so that eating turkey is not an option.
Vegans, vegetarians, and pescatarians all will be avoiding turkey when they sit down at the table today. And South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball head coach is among these, as she identifies as a pescatarian.
Dawn Staley Gets Honest About Fishy Thanksgiving Meal
Given that Staley's No. 2-ranked South Carolina squad is facing the No. 4-ranked Texas Longhorns on Thanksgiving at 8 PM ET, she will need to either enjoy her meal before the game or after the contest is over.
What's for sure is that Staley will be having a unique Thanksgiving main dish, which she conveyed when speaking with the media before Thursday's game.
When Staley was asked by Isabel Gonzalez of CBS Sports what pescatarians eat for Thanksgiving, she said, "We have salmon! Big salmon, yes," per an X post from Gonzalez.
She then added, "You know, if you grind salmon up, you can make a salmon meatloaf, right? Yes! You can make salmon meatballs. You've gotta broaden your horizons when you're not getting the type of protein that everybody else gets."
Dawn Staley is a pesqueterian so I asked her what she eats for Thanksgiving. I also asked about her dog Champ, and she is so done with me for not understanding her joke right away 😂 pic.twitter.com/sSCBUMZ2SQ
— Isabel Gonzalez (@cisabelg) November 27, 2025
Staley was also asked about her dog, and she said, "I have a super cute dog. His name is Champ, Champ Staley. Champion. And he's just a cool guy. Like, he's easy. He's easy. He's disciplined, he listens. He's also not a vegan, but a treatgen."
When Gonzalez didn't immediately understand the joke, Staley said, "Treat-gen? " And then smiled once the joke finally landed with Gonzalez.
Props to Staley for being willing to get creative with her Thanksgiving meal, given that she won't be taking part in the turkey consumption later today. Although one would imagine that some of her Gamecocks players will eagerly take her turkey portion.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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