Dawn Staley, head coach of South Carolina’s elite women’s basketball team, publicly apologized Sunday for questioning whether USC Senior Associate Athletic Director Maria Hickman is qualified for her role as Chief Diversity officer in the school’s athletic department.

“Let me say this, I apologize to Maria Hickman for speaking out of line for all the things she’s doing and have done to advance black coaches, black student athletes including all student athletes and black administrators at (South Carolina). She’s done more than I was privy to know,” Staley tweeted in reaction to a Post and Courier re-tweet of a Post and Courier column.

Included was Staley’s quote last week in a Facebook Live appearance with The State newspaper in Columbia in which she questioned Hickman’s role as Chief Diversity Officer within the USC athletic department.

“Do I think she’s doing a great job? Yes,” Staley told The State. “Do I think she’s versed in diversity and inclusion? No. And I expressed that to her as well. We need somebody else who is versed in it to take our university and our athletic department to another level.”

Staley has said she hopes to help lead USC and the Palmetto State to adopt diversity programs that others around the nation can model.

The 50-year-old Virginia graduate, a former college and WNBA star, has guided the Gamecocks to two Final Fours, won the 2017 national title and is piling up top-rated recruiting classes.