Geno Auriemma

Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954 in Montella, Italy) is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. He has led UConn to nine NCAA Division I national championships, and has won six national Naismith College Coach of the Year awards.[5] Auriemma was also the head coach of the United States women's national basketball team from 2009 to 2012, winning the 2010 World Championship, and the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[6]

He emigrated with his family to Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. when he was seven years old and spent the rest of his childhood there.[7][8] After graduating from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 1977, Auriemma was hired as an assistant coach[9] at Saint Joseph's University, where he worked in 1978 and 1979. He then took a two-year absence from college basketball, serving as an assistant coach at his former high school, Bishop Kenrick,[9] before assuming an assistant coaching position with the University of Virginia Cavaliers in 1981. Auriemma became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994,[10] noting in his autobiography that he finally decided to naturalize when his UConn team was slated to tour Italy that summer and he was concerned about potential problems because he had never done any required national service.[11]

For many years, Auriemma and his wife, Kathy, maintained a home in Avalon, New Jersey, to be near their respective parents in the Philadelphia area.[12]

Prior to Auriemma's arrival at Storrs in 1985, the Huskies Women's Basketball team had posted just one winning season in their history. The decision to hire Auriemma as their new coach was part of UConn's commitment to better fund women's sports.[13] Auriemma was the last of a series of interviews conducted by the search staff. Most of the other candidates were highly qualified coaches, and most were female. One of those included in the interview process was Chris Dailey, who would become Auriemma's assistant and is currently the associate head coach at UConn. Dailey was identified as the candidate likely to receive an offer if Auriemma turned down the offer.[14]

Connecticut quickly rose to prominence after Auriemma was hired in August 1985. After finishing 12–15 in Auriemma's first season, his only losing season, Connecticut has finished above .500 for 28 consecutive seasons, including five undefeated seasons (1994–95, 2001–02, 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2013–14) and two NCAA record streaks of 90 and 70 consecutive wins.[15] On December 21, 2010, Auriemma led UConn to its 89th consecutive victory, one more than the all-time NCAA men's wins record of 88 held by UCLA;[16] the streak ended at 90 wins.

At end of the 2013–14 season, Auriemma's record as a head coach was 879–133, for an 86.9 winning percentage. That winning percentage is the highest among Division I active coaches.[17] His career in Storrs also includes 19 seasons with 30 or more wins.[18] UConn has won nine national championships under Auriemma (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014)[19] and made the Final Four 15 times[18] (1991, 1995, 1996, 2000–2004, 2008–2014). Auriemma has also guided UConn to 20 Conference regular season titles and 19 Conference Tournament titles.

The team has been especially successful on its home court in the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on the UConn campus in Storrs, Connecticut, and in the larger XL Center in Hartford; they tied an NCAA women's basketball record with 69 consecutive home wins between 2000 and 2003. That record was broken in 2011. The last home loss was to Villanova in the game that ended their 70-game winning streak. Moreover, between Auriemma's arrival and the close of the 2005 season, UConn won 295 games versus just 31 losses. The team has set Big East Conference records for both single-game and season-long attendance.

Auriemma is also known for cultivating individual players, and the 12 multiple-All-America players — Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Kara Wolters, Nykesha Sales, Svetlana Abrosimova, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Stefanie Dolson, and Bria Hartley — whom Auriemma has coached have combined to win eight Naismith College Player of the Year awards, seven Wade Trophies, and nine NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player awards. (The UConn athletics website also notes that, through 2006–07, every recruited freshman who has finished her eligibility at Storrs has graduated with a degree.)

The rivalry between the Huskies and the University of Tennessee Lady Vols extended to Auriemma's relationship with since-retired Volunteers counterpart Pat Summitt. The two, through print and broadcast media, were often at odds. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Auriemma had slightly surpassed Summitt among active Division I coaches for career winning percentage, with Auriemma at 85.8 and Summitt at 84.1. Summitt declined to continue the yearly game in June, 2007, to the disappointment of many women's college basketball fans. Rumors of tension between Auriemma and men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun were widely circulated, but the two apparently reconciled after the teams won national championships on consecutive nights in 2004.

Since achieving its first #1 ranking in the 1994–95 season, UConn under Auriemma is 186-10 when playing as the nation's #1 team. As of the end of the 2009–10 season, he had a record of 127-52 against top 25 opponents and a 57-35 record against top 10 opponents. He won his 600th game on New Year's Eve 2006, accomplishing the feat in 716 games, tying him with Phillip Kahler for the fastest women's basketball coach to reach that milestone. Auriemma won his 700th game on November 27, 2009 in 822 total games, becoming the fastest head coach to that milestone in the history of college basketball at any level, men or women. He is now one of eight active women's college basketball coaches to have 700 or more wins.[17] Auriemma became the sixth coach in women's basketball history to reach 800 career victories on March 6, 2012 also reaching 800 career wins faster than any coach in the history of college basketball men or women at any division level in just 928 career games. Auriemma was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.[20]

USA Basketball[edit] Geno Auriemma was named as head coach of the USA team which would compete at the Junior World Championship in Brno, Czech Republic during July 2001. The team won its first five games, including a record-setting win against Mali. The 97–27 final score represented the largest margin of victory by a USA team in Junior World Championship history. The preliminary round results qualified the team for the medal rounds, where they faced the host team, the Czech Republic. With a home crowd cheering them on, the Czech team won 92–88 and went on to beat Russia 82–80 to win the gold medal. The USA team beat the Czech Republic 77–72 to win the bronze medal. Diana Taurasi was the leading scorer for the USA with 19.3 points per game, while Alana Beard was close behind with 18.0 points per game. Nicole Powell was the leading rebounder for the USA, with seven rebounds per game.[21]

Auriemma was named head coach of the USA National team in preparation for competition in the 2010 World Championships and 2012 Olympics. Because many team members were still playing in the WNBA until just prior to the event, the team had only one day of practice with the entire team before leaving for Ostrava and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. Even with limited practice, the team managed to win its first games against Greece by 26 points. The team continued to dominate with victory margins exceeding 20 points in the first five games. Several players shared scoring honors, with Swin Cash, Angel McCoughtry, Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi, Lindsay Whalen, and Sylvia Fowles all ending as high scorer in the first few games. The sixth game was against undefeated Australia — the USA jumped out to a 24-point lead and the USA prevailed 83–75. The USA won its next two games by over 30 points, then faced the host team, the Czech Republic, in the championship game. The USA team had only a five-point lead at halftime, which was cut to three points, but the Czechs never got closer. Team USA went on to win the championship and gold medal.[22]

Head coaching record[edit] Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason Connecticut (Big East Conference) (1985–2013) 1985–86	Connecticut	12–15	4–12	7th 1986–87	Connecticut	14–13	9–7	T–4th 1987–88	Connecticut	17–11	9–7	5th 1988–89	Connecticut	24–6	13–2	1st	NCAA 1st Round 1989–90	Connecticut	25–6	14–2	T–1st	NCAA 2nd Round 1990–91	Connecticut	29–5	14–2	1st	NCAA Final Four 1991–92	Connecticut	23–11	13–5	T–2nd	NCAA 2nd Round 1992–93	Connecticut	18–11	12–6	3rd	NCAA 1st Round 1993–94	Connecticut	30–3	17–1	1st	NCAA Elite Eight 1994–95	Connecticut	35–0	18–0	1st	NCAA Champions 1995–96	Connecticut	34–4	17–1	1st	NCAA Final Four 1996–97	Connecticut	33–1	18–0	1st	NCAA Elite Eight 1997–98	Connecticut	34–3	17–1	1st	NCAA Elite Eight 1998–99	Connecticut	29–5	17–1	T–1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen 1999–2000	Connecticut	36–1	16–0	1st	NCAA Champions 2000–01	Connecticut	32–3	15–1	T–1st	NCAA Final Four 2001–02	Connecticut	39–0	16–0	1st	NCAA Champions 2002–03	Connecticut	37–1	16–0	1st	NCAA Champions 2003–04	Connecticut	31–4	14–2	1st	NCAA Champions 2004–05	Connecticut	25–8	13–2	T–2nd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen 2005–06	Connecticut	32–5	14–2	2nd	NCAA Elite Eight 2006–07	Connecticut	32–4	16–0	1st	NCAA Elite Eight 2007–08	Connecticut	36–2	17–1	1st	NCAA Final Four 2008–09	Connecticut	39–0	16–0	1st	NCAA Champions 2009–10	Connecticut	39–0	16–0	1st	NCAA Champions 2010–11	Connecticut	36–2	16–0	1st	NCAA Final Four 2011–12	Connecticut	33–5	13–3	3rd	NCAA Final Four 2012–13	Connecticut	35–4	14–2	2nd	NCAA Champions Connecticut - Big East:	839–133 (.863)	404–60 (.871) Connecticut (American Athletic Conference) (2013–present) 2013–14	Connecticut	40–0	18–0	1st	NCAA Champions Connecticut - American Athletic Conference:	40– 0 (1.000)	18–0 (1.000) Total:	879–133 (.868) National champion Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion Other activities[edit] During the college basketball offseason, Auriemma serves as an analyst for games of the Women's National Basketball Association broadcast on the American cable television networks ESPN and ESPN2, in which he often critiques his former players.[23]

Auriemma is close friends with Saint Joseph's University basketball head coach Phil Martelli[24] and his son, Mike Auriemma, attended and played basketball at Saint Joseph's.[25]

Auriemma served as an assistant coach to the gold medalist 2000 U.S. Olympic Team. On April 15, 2009 he was selected to lead USA Basketball Women's National Team in the 2010 FIBA World Championship in the Czech Republic and the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England.[26]

Auriemma is a member of the Board of Directors of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.[27]

Honors[edit] In 2006, Auriemma was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.[28][29] In November 2007, Auriemma was inducted[30] into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, in a class that included Dick Vermeil, Mike Scioscia, Fred Couples, and others.

Auriemma was named the USBWA National Coach of the Year in 1995, 2003, 2008, and 2009 by the United States Basketball Writers Association.[31][32]

In 2010 Auriemma shared the Big East Conference Coach of the Year award with Mike Carey of West Virginia.[33] In 2011, he won the award outright, marking the fourth consecutive year he won the award.[34]

In 2013, Auriemma was the recipient of the Winged Foot Award, a crystal globe presented by the New York Athletic Club to the winner of the Division I National Championship.[35]

Records and achievements[edit] Auriemma holds the following records and achievements for NCAA basketball:

Highest winning percentage among NCAA basketball coaches, any level, men's or women's (.869) Most NCAA Division I women's championships as a coach (9) With men's coach Jim Calhoun (2004) and men's coach Kevin Ollie (2014), the only coaches at the same Division I school to win men's and women's NCAA Final Fours in the same season Coached five of the eight undefeated seasons in NCAA women's college basketball (1994–95, 2001–02, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2013–14) Most consecutive trips to the Final Four, women's (7, 2008–2014) (The men's record is 9 held by John Wooden of UCLA) Fastest women's coach to 500 wins, 600 wins, 700 wins, and 800 wins Fastest coach to 800 wins, any level, men's or women's Most consecutive wins, men's or women's (90, 2008–10) Largest margin of victory in a Division I NCAA tournament final (93–60 v. Louisville, 2013) The win streak of 90 games was bookended by losses to Stanford on April 6, 2008, and December 30, 2010. Among women's teams, the previous record was Auriemma's Huskies teams of 2001 to 2003, who won 70 straight.

See also[edit] List of college women's basketball coaches with 600 wins