STORRS, Conn. – The voice was unmistakable. “Welcome to the basketball capital of the world,” Geno Auriemma said over the loudspeaker during a pregame video recording. It plays before every game, but Gampel Arena had never had a game like this.
This one was a celebration of two coaches, 40 years and 1,217 wins.
With fans decked out in red for the Ruby Anniversary, a section of four students with G-E-N-O painted in white and blue on their chests and 62 former players in attendance, Auriemma and associate head coach Chris Dailey were honored for doing something no one has ever done before in college basketball. The Huskies’ 85-41 win over Fairleigh-Dickinson made Auriemma the winningest coach in college basketball history, passing former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. The record books will give Auriemma official credit, but everyone who’s come through UConn knows the milestone happened because he and Dailey did it together. The moment was Auriemma’s, but he made sure Dailey shared it.
“If she didn’t say yes 40 years ago, none of this would have happened,” he said.
Forty years ago, when Auriemma interviewed for the UConn job, he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave Virginia, where he had been an assistant for four seasons. But by the time he was offered the gig, Auriemma was sure of something. He couldn’t coach this team without Dailey, who had also been a finalist for the head coaching position.
And so began the most successful partnership in college basketball. One that Auriemma describes as a fairy tale. “We never sat down and said, ‘Let’s make a 40-year plan,’ ” Auriemma said. It just sort of happened that way.
In 40 years, women’s college basketball has changed dramatically, with new powerhouses emerging, NIL taking over and transfer rules shifting roster makeup every season. Throughout the changes, Auriemma and Dailey have been staples on the UConn sidelines. Together, they’ve won 27 conference tournaments, gone to 23 Final Fours and won 11 National Championships.
Together, they created a dynasty.
The proof was in the building on Wednesday. Governor Ned Lamont presented a road sign that read: “Welcome to Connecticut. Home of the winningest coach in basketball history.” Sue Bird spoke. So did Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi. Nike representatives gifted Auriemma and Dailey a special ladder engraved with all of their accomplishments, symbolizing the 11 times they scaled a ladder and cut down championship nets. Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Caroline Ducharme presented Auriemma with a special “1217” jersey that will no doubt go in his office with countless other commemorative jerseys and trophies.
“This will never be done by another coaching staff, or program ever again,” Rebecca Lobo said during her postgame speech.
That’s something that Auriemma has always taken to heart. When you look at all of his accomplishments, it seems impossible that it all happened to one man in one place.
“If someone were to write a book about my career and everything that’s happened over the last 40 years, it would feel like one of those children’s books where anything is possible,” he said. “I would say it’s gotta be fiction. Yet, it’s true.”
When Auriemma took the job, he took a risk. There’s nothing in Storrs, Connecticut, nothing but the university, that is. Nothing about the town of 17,600 screams “college basketball mecca.” When Gampel Pavilion was built in 1990, five years after Auriemma took over, the athletic department tossed around the idea of letting people in for free. Otherwise, the worry was, no one would come.
They came. And they are still coming.
A lot of that can be traced back to the first players Auriemma coached at Connecticut. They took a risk as well, on an unestablished coach in an unremarkable town, and helped to build something extraordinary. They built a program that all other programs are measured against.
“Those early years, those early teams, there was nothing to offer them,” Auriemma said. “They were going on faith. They believed that we could do something unique.”
And because of the ever-evolving landscape that is college basketball, it will likely stay unique.
“I would hope that there’s some young coach out there that thinks that they can do it,” Auriemma said. “And there may be. But the environment is more challenging than it’s ever been. People treat coaches with less respect than they ever have, so they’re really up against it.”
On Wednesday, Auriemma had the respect of everyone in Gampel Pavilion, from his 14 current players, to the 62 former players, and the 10,299 fans in the stands. It was a gaudy celebration that included confetti, tribute videos and speeches and even a live goat that was paraded in on a red carpet. For Auriemma, it was all a bit much.
“He doesn’t want to do the whole thing: the celebration, the goats, it’s all extra to him,” Paige Bueckers said. “But he deserves it and we want to celebrate him because he doesn’t celebrate himself a lot. So everyone around him will make sure they do that job.”
Auriemma tried his best to reflect on Wednesday, but it’s hard to celebrate a career that’s not over. When the season is done and hopefully one more championship trophy is added to his name, then Auriemma says he will think about what being the winningest coach in college basketball means.
But tomorrow, Auriemma will coach another practice. And on Monday, when the Huskies play Oregon State, he and Dailey will go for another win.
GET TO KNOW THE GOAT
