Last time Cynthia Jordan was in the same building as the rest of South Carolina’s women’s basketball program, they were cutting down nets in Minneapolis.
Next time it happens, she will be getting her National Championship ring before coaching against Gamecocks.
Jordan played for Dawn Staley at Temple from 2001-2005 and spent 14 years in Columbia, first working for three as the team’s video coordinator before being promoted to Director of Basketball Operations. For the entire Staley era, from the 10-win first season through to the second National Championship her time as a Gamecock ended on, she was right there in the heart of the program.
“Going from the bottom and being a part of bringing something that a lot of people did not think was possible to the university,” Jordan told GamecockScoop was what she was most proud about from her time at South Carolina. “To be a part of two of those along with two other final fours, I think it’s pretty special to see that we were able to bring more trophies than a trophy case can hold.”
She did a little bit of everything for Staley, from coordinating schedules to piecing together travel. Her role as Director of Basketball Operations meant every day looked different, filling in gaps of the program’s needs to keep everything running smoothly within Staley’s well-oiled machine.
Tomorrow night Jordan will be back at Colonial Life Arena, but she will not be sitting on the home bench. Long wanting to take a step up and find a role on a coaching staff, she finally achieved her goal after the 2021-22 season when Florida head coach Kelly Rae Finley hired her as an assistant coach.
“She is a person of incredible integrity,” Finley told GamecockScoop. “She has an ability to connect with people, and she has a drive and a work ethic that really sets her apart from other people. I think those were all qualities that I was looking for, and she definitely has all of those.”
This has been a challenging season for the Gators, struggling through a series of injuries. Before it even started, leading returning scorer Zippy Broughton went down for the year with a leg injury. Florida will take a 14-11 record and a 3-9 mark in conference play into Thursday’s game, a disappointing follow-up to last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance.
But Jordan has been through this before. In fact, she has been through almost everything. She understands what it takes to operate a program at the highest level, and the work that goes into it from everybody involved. She knows what her players are going through, having been through a 14-15 campaign her sophomore season at Temple. Her life in basketball is a bar for her players both to learn from and strive for as they navigate their own careers.
“She makes you feel comfortable, but she also challenges them,” Finley said. “We have a very new team, a very young team, and she provides them with perspective. Like I said before, she challenges them, and she really believes she can help them be the best version of themselves that they can possibly be.
“It’s a people business. You have to help each other and challenge each other in order to find success.”
As for Jordan herself, the emotion — or lack thereof — is not going to dominate the night saying it “almost is going to be like a blur.” There will be a pre-game meeting with Staley, who she still regularly keeps in touch with. Her National Championship ring will slide a fitting bow onto her time in Columbia, the ultimate prize from her brick-by-brick efforts to to assist South Carolina’s rise to the top by any means necessary.
She will see the same rituals and gameday vibes she experienced for the last 14 years. The pre-game videos and montages, now updated this year featuring the most recent championship. The slow buzz of Colonial Life Arena filling to its five-figure attendance, a distant leap from where the crowds when she arrived in Columbia.
For 40 minutes of basketball it will be a convergence between her former life and the basketball dynasty she helped construct, and her future she is trying to carve out in Gainesville.
“At the end of the day, she’s [Staley] still family,” Jordan said. “ There’s a lot of people there that are family to me. We go back 20+ years, whatever. We very much still stay in contact, so our relationship is still one in which we communicate and everything. It’s not that I left and we haven’t spoken since.
“Right now I’m just trying to be the best assistant and bring something that hasn’t been brought to Florida women’s basketball history.”
It will be business as usual once the game starts, but Staley is still looking forward to the reunion.
“She’s been a staple for us,” Staley said. “She’s been someone that made our program move forward. She’s always worked behind the scenes to make sure everything was great and we had no worries. For her to come back, I’m sure she’s going to get a great ovation.”
