Geno Auriemma poses with UConn players past and present as longtime Huskies coach became all-time winningest coach in the sport Wednesday. (Photo by UConn Women’s Basketball)
By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)
Go to a girls’ middle or high school game, and not just in the Nutmeg State.
Invariably, you will see the point guard or coach setting up a play and hollering, “UConn!”
On those levels, plays are often named for favorite and/or renowned teams. Obviously, UConn women’s basketball fits the bill.
This past Wednesday saw an 85-41 victory by the Huskies over FDU. The win was number 1,217 in coach Geno Auriemma’s storied career. The number allowed him to surpass retired Stanford mentor Tara VanDerveer as the sport’s all-time winningest college coach.
UConn is synonymous with women’s basketball excellence and royalty, but there was once a time where that was not always the case. The rarified air the Huskies reached was unthinkable four decades ago.
Back in 1985, Geno Auriemma and his wife, Kathy, were unpacking boxes as they moved into their new residence. Geno paused and asked his wife, “what are we doing here’? The simple question of Geno wondering what he had just gotten himself into came with good reason.
UConn was a struggling program. The struggles were not limited to final scores and records, either. The school had just one winning season in its women's basketball history, a bottom feeder in the Big East Conference.ESPN's Doris Burke starred at Providence in the 1980s, and frequently recalls on her telecasts that “you had UConn games circled on your schedule. It was a guaranteed win.”
Beyond that, the facilities were lacking or in dire need of updating. The team locker room had a roof that leaked on rainy days. The same could be said for the practice facility that was shared with other athletic or club teams. The field house was antiquated. Fans did not complain, though, because at that time, there hardly were any at the women’s games.
Auriemma had just one full-time assistant, now associate head coach, Chris Dailey who was required to teach a jogging class in addition to her basketball duties. When recruits visited Storrs, Auriemma would try not to show them all the facilities.
“We started at nothing,” Auriemma told UConn WBB Weekly. “We didn’t have the advantages of location. We didn’t have the advantages of the reputation of the school, we didn’t have a big-time league that could elevate us. We started at the absolute ground level and it’s evolved into this.”
“This” includes:
— 11 national championships
— 23 Final Fours
— 6 undefeated seasons
— 111 consecutive victories
— 55 regular season and conference tournament championships
How did it happen? The first goal that first year was not to finish last in the Big East. That did not happen, but it was Auriemma’s only losing season in Storrs. In 1986, the Huskies recruited Kris Lamb, who Auriemma knew from his days as an assistant at Virginia. There was improvement the next few seasons. The recruiting trails were navigated in earnest. Some hits, some misses. It was a learning process as well as a rebuild. Playing before sparse crowds may have actually been a godsend.
“The one thing is we were doing it in a space no one cared about,” Auriemma said. “There wasn’t a lot of explaining to do to anybody other than the players.”
The turnaround began to take form when Kerry Bascom and Laura Lishness came on board in the fall of 1987. In the 1988 offseason, there was a roster change, as a seven-player freshman class arrived. The result saw the Huskies make a significant jump, posting a 13-2 Big East record and culminating in the conference tournament title. Many observers feel the program made its move to prominence with its first national championship in 1995. That was not the case. The turning point, often overlooked but significant per UConn WBB Weekly, was in 1991. The Huskies dropped first-round games in the two prior NCAA Tournaments. A narrow win over Toledo was followed by victories over NC State and Clemson, and a trip to the Final Four. UConn lost to Virginia, Auriemma’s former employer, in the national semifinals, but the Final Four appearance marked the first of any school north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The Huskies were now in the national stream of consciousness.
“If that didn’t happen, none of this would have happened,” Auriemma said. “Zero. Not even close to happening.”
Hand in hand with that Final Four berth in 1991 came the opening of Gampel Pavilion, an impressive on-campus facility. The Hugh Greer Field House was in the rearview mirror. Auriemma is of the opinion that a Final Four would have been uncertain had it not been for Gampel.
Auriemma also ascertained Final Fours and the incredible success that has followed would not have been a reality without Chris Dailey. She was hired three years removed from being a key player on the AIAW championship team at Rutgers. “CD,”
as she is often known, has heard overtures over the years from other schools searching for a head coach. Each time, her response was “thanks, but no thanks,” as she chose to remain in Storrs.
“We relied on each other,” Auriemma told USA Today. “We ran the ticket office, we were the recruiting coordinators, the media people, the coaching people. Anything that had to be done, we had to do it. She was very good at handling all that, and still does to this day. I don’t know if you can build something like that without her. If she wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have lasted this long. I can pretty much guarantee that.”
Dailey, by Auriemma’s side for four decades, commented on the remarkable run. To little surprise, she shared the same thoughts as Auriemma.
“It would seem very improbable and almost impossible, but when you’re in it, I don’t think we ever thought that,” she said. “We never looked at what we didn’t have. We always focused on what we had. Eventually, 40 years later, a lot more happened than we even thought would have.”
Following the FDU game, Auriemma’s record stood at 1,217-162. Thirty-nine of those losses came in his first three seasons. The success has been accomplished at a school in New England, a region known for gorgeous fall foliage and pristine coastlines. Auriemma is pure Philadelphia, cheesesteaks and Liberty Bell, through and through.
Luigi (Geno) Auriemma grew up in Montella, Italy. At age seven, his family came to the United States, settling in Norristown, Pennsylvania, roughly 30 minutes outside the City of Brotherly Love. The early days in the old country instilled values of love, family and hard work, values that have carried him throughout his life and career. Auriemma credits his Bishop Kenrick high school coach Bud Gardler for being a major influence toward his decision to be a coach. He would later go on to recruit Gardler’s daughter, Meghan, who played at UConn in the late 2000s.
Auriemma would pattern his coaching philosophy after the old-school style of Gardler. Auriemma began coaching while attending West Chester State University. He would commute an hour each way to help coach the Bishop McDevitt (Philadelphia) High School girls’ team. In 1977, Auriemma joined the staff at Saint Joseph’s University. When his part-time position on Hawk Hill ended, Auriemma, at the urging of his friend Phil Martelli, joined the boys’ staff at Bishop Kenrick. Auriemma met and befriended Martelli while working one of legendary Immaculata coach Cathy Rush’s basketball camps. Martelli and Auriemma would jokingly tell the other who the better coach was. He then moved on to the University of Virginia as an assistant in charge of recruiting. By 1984-85, his third season, Auriemma
had recruited several high school All-Americans. That group led the Cavaliers to an ACC championship, a top 10 ranking and an NCAA Tournament.
The UConn job became available that offseason. At first, Auriemma enjoyed Virginia and was unsure about making the move. After meeting with UConn athletic director John Toner and associate AD Pat Meiser, Auriemma felt a connection and an opportunity to direct his own program.
Auriemma has often compared coaching to teaching. You learn the lessons in the classroom andon the court. Beyond that, the teacher/coach has a lasting influence on those he guides, influences that go beyond a math teacher explaining a theorem or a coach showing the method of setting a screen. That impact and family atmosphere was discussed by some of the many players he guided through his four decades at UConn.
Meghan (Pattyson) Culmo (1998-92): “I played when he was in his early thirties. Now, kids are coming out of high school and they’re playing for a 70-year-old. And yet, he can still connect and relate to them.”
Katie Lou Samuelson (2015-19): “He’s definitely
one of the people who shaped me into what I am. He’s someone I still go to if I need help or advice.”
Moriah Jefferson (2012-2016): “For me being in the
league (WNBA) as many years as I have, he still
reaches out. He’s just Geno. We love him.”
It is interesting that virtually every player past or
present, especially the over 60 basketball alumni that made it to Gampel Pavilion on an historic Wednesday night, focused not so much on championships, but relationships. Carla Berube played on the first national championship team that included Jennifer Rizzotti and Rebecca Lobo. Berube currently runs a highly successful program at Princeton. Moments after discussing the her Tigers’ win over Seton Hall on Thursday, Berube stood outside her locker room and recalled her days in Storrs. She echoed past players’ comments on the rigorous practices, the demands and expectations of Auriemma, and how special it was to be a part of that first national championship. Berube went on to emphasize the UConn family.
“There are former players that were there before or after me I connected with or met,” she said. “We became friends and reach out as if we’ve known each other for years.”
Berube couldn’t make it to Gampel on Wednesday, but was not excluded from the celebration.
“We were preparing for a tough game here at Seton Hall and had practice.” She wasn’t excluded from the celebration.
“I must have been up half the night,” she said, “as former teammates and basketball alums FaceTimed me. It was special, making me feel as if I were there.”
Geno the competitor has battled it out, on and off
the floor, with the likes of the late Pat Summitt and
Muffet McGraw. The winning has caused some fans to actually dislike UConn, some complaining that the Huskies’ dominance has been bad for women’s basketball. That gripe is not justified, but is a natural response to those who want parity and treat dynasties with disfavor. Back about 15 years at the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden, each timeout saw a coach or basketball personality comment on the late Army coach. When Auriemma’s face flashed on the jumbotron, a chorus of boos drowned out part of his comments. Such is life at the top.
Fan or foe, you have to respect what he’s done in
longevity alone. Forty years. Stephanie Gaitley, the
coach of FDU, the opposition on the historic night, has had a great 37-year career in her own right. Gaitley recently logged her 700th career win. Still, she can only marvel at Auriemma’s accomplishment of over 1,200 wins, all at one school. One analyst pointed out a new coach aspiring to hit the 1,200-win column would need to average 30 victories a season for the entire 40 years. The status quo today with NIL and the transfer portal is taking its toll on coaches. A 20-year career seems plausible, but very unlikely at the same institution.
Amid the rapid change in the college game, Auriemma moves on. He recently signed a five-year extension and has no immediate plans to slow down or retire. After all, to the UConn mentor, it’s about being there to impart lessons that go beyond the
basketball court.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.