PORTLAND, OREGON - MARCH 30: Paige Bueckers #5 to head coach Geno Auriemma of the Connecticut Huskies during the first half against the Duke Blue Devils in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on March 30, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma made history Wednesday, earning his 1,217th career victory in an 85-41 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson. It is the most victories by any coach in the history of college basketball, passing longtime Stanford women’s coach Tara VanDerveer.
Since taking over the Huskies’ women’s basketball program in 1985, Auriemma has been responsible for creating and overseeing one of the greatest dynasties in American sports. UConn women’s basketball transcends sports itself in many ways, and has become synonymous with a much broader ideas of triumph and dominance.
“You’re surrounded by it every single day,” UConn star Paige Bueckers said earlier this week. “You walk through this gym, you walk through these hallways, the greatness that’s on the walls, the greatness that’s in the practice facility, in Gampel as well, there’s obviously a legacy that you want to live up to and uphold what they’ve built and the coaching staff has built.”
There are countless ways to frame Auriemma’s awe-inspiring success at UConn. The team has appeared in every single NCAA Tournament since the 1988-89 season. The Huskies won three straight titles between 2001 and 2004 and another four straight between 2012 and 2016. In back-to-back championship campaigns between 2008 and 2010, they went undefeated with a 78-0 combined record. Since the 2013-14 season, they have a 184-3 record in conference games.
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As a coach, Auriemma has won 11 championships and made 22 Final Four appearances. Now in his 40th season, he has won more than 88% of his games, earning a 1,217-162 record. It is has been an overwhelmingly successful run, one in which Auriemma turned an obscure program in a largely unappreciated sport into a national powerhouse and household name.
An army of the greatest women’s basketball players of all time have ended up in Auriemma’s gym over the years, often at the same time. Kerry Bascom put the team on the map in the late 1980s, becoming UConn’s first All-American. Nykesha Sales, Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti and Kara Wolters combined to form the program’s first super-team, which won Auriemma’s first championship in 1995.
Before they became WNBA icons, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi were UConn teammates in the early 2000s. Tina Charles and Maya Moore picked up where they left off later in the decade. Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck became the first basketball players, male or female, to win four NCAA championships when the program went on another tear in the 2010s. All were recruited by Auriemma.
“We never sat down and said, ‘Hey let’s make a 40-year plan and see if we can make this happen,'” Auriemma said after his record-breaking win Wednesday. “It’s about coming here every day and trying to be better than we were yesterday.”
Alongside names like VanDerveer, Pat Summitt, Kim Mulkey and Dawn Staley, Auriemma is an undeniable pioneer in women’s basketball. A man in a leadership position typically reserved for women, he received several offers to coach in men’s basketball over the years but never made the switch. By staying with the Huskies, many have credited him with elevating the status of women’s basketball by respecting his role in it.
Despite earning a historic achievement Wednesday night, Auriemma will only have so much time to look back on his legendary career. There’s plenty on the horizon. His 40th season will also be the last collegiate season for Bueckers, the presumptive first-overall pick in next year’s WNBA Draft. The team has been reloading for several years in search of yet another NCAA Championship. With Auriemma at the helm and a star like Bueckers on the floor, the Huskies remain one of the safest bets in the game.
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