Tag: Geno Auriemma

Nika Muhl thanked UConn’s Geno Auriemma in tear-jerking video ahead of her WNBA debut

Who is cutting onions in here?

UConn alumna Nika Muhl is off to make her mark in the WNBA. On April 15, the Seattle Storm selected Muhl 14th overall. Still, she hasn’t forgotten the people who have helped her arrive at this moment, including UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. Muhl recently paid Auriemma a visit to say goodbye to him, and you might want to grab your tissues.

Geno Auriemma has a different kind of relationship with his players. He’s tough on them but also believes in them so much. That didn’t change when Nika Muhl recently visited Geno. In a newly released video, Nika walks into Geno’s office and immediately calls him “Grampy” — an ode to his notorious old man ways and uncanny ability to resemble the grandfather from Up — before being on the receiving end of him trolling her.

However, before the clip is over, Nika can be heard pouring into Geno and sharing these heartfelt words:

“You changed my life. Your impact — I don’t think you’re aware of it…You’ve impacted so many people around me, including me. There’s never been a single person like you, and there never will be in the world. I hope you know how unique you are, how special you are.”

Geno Auriemma says changing the WNBA eligibility rules could ruin women’s college basketball

Geno Auriemma thinks WNBA eligibility rules should stay exactly as they are to preserve women’s college hoops.

Women’s college basketball is in a place of high interest right now after the careers of stars like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, LSU’s Angel Reese, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso and UConn’s Paige Bueckers.

In fact, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James spoke recently about how that familiarity has generated more star power for the women’s side than the men’s side of the sport.

However, the odds of losing one of those premiere talents after a year could ruin the women’s college hoops altogether, at least to UConn coaching legend Geno Auriemma told ESPN Radio’s “UnSportsmanLike” this week.

As of 2022, domestic women’s college players who are graduating seniors or are at least 22 years old can be eligible for the WNBA Draft. Meanwhile, men’s college basketball players only have to play for a year pre-NBA before turning pro.

To Auriemma, giving women’s basketball athletes the chance to leave after only a year could prove catastrophic.

“It depends whether you want the game to grow or you want to kill it,” Auriemma shared on the show. “If you want to kill it, then let the kids leave after freshman year.

“On the men’s side, it’s become transactional. Everybody’s a free agent. Everybody’s a mercenary. It’s not the kids’ fault. … To me, what helped the women’s game grow is the people in Iowa got to grow up with Caitlin Clark. The people of Connecticut got to grow up with all of my great players. There’s something to be said for that.”

While we’re not sure what the future holds for WNBA eligibility, we do know that Auriemma joins the group who feels things should stay exactly as they are.

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Geno Auriemma shockingly didn’t even try to recruit UConn-obsessed Caitlin Clark out of high school

Caitlin Clark loved UConn but Geno Auriemma never gave her a chance.

Geno Auriemma has expressed he doesn’t want to give Caitlin Clark more motivation ahead of Iowa’s matchup with UConn in Friday’s Final Four battle. It seems he already failed at that mission long ago.

According to a story from ESPN’s Wright Thompson, as Clark dominated during her high school days with Dowling Catholic High School in Iowa, she understandably had aspirations of at least being evaluated, let alone recruited by Auriemma’s historically successful program. But for as much as Clark had hoped UConn would at least take a look at her game, it appears Auriemma never really gave her an earnest thought in those days.

More from ESPN:

“Honestly, it was more I wanted them to recruit me to say I got recruited,” Clark told ESPN. “I loved UConn. I think they’re the coolest place on earth, and I wanted to say I got recruited by them. They called my AAU coach a few times, but they never talked to my family and never talked to me.

“Clark’s coach at Dowling Catholic High School, Kristin Meyer, said that while some of the top schools in the country flooded into open gyms to see Clark play, there was one notable absence. “Geno never came,” Meyer told ESPN.

Phew. Now, that is a story I’m sure both Clark and Auriemma haven’t forgotten to this day. For as successful as Auriemma has been with his Huskies, he never even tried to recruit arguably the greatest college basketball player of all time. That’s kinda wild to consider, even in hindsight.

And now, with a trip to the 2024 national championship game on the line, he has to face down Clark, hoping (praying?) she doesn’t light up his team.

Gulp.

Geno Auriemma jokingly tried to stay on Caitlin Clark’s good side to stop her from lighting up UConn

Geno Auriemma is treading VERY lightly with Caitlin Clark.

To reach the Final Four yet again, Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies have an almost impossibly difficult task in front of them: Beating Iowa’s Caitlin Clark at the peak of her college powers.

And after watching what Clark did to LSU in an instant classic Elite Eight battle, Auriemma isn’t taking any chances. In fact, he’s seemingly pulling out all the stops to ensure she doesn’t have any extra motivation for Friday’s semifinal heavyweight fight.

After UConn beat USC to advance to the Final Four on Monday, Auriemma started joking about everything he overtly appreciates about Clark as a player. Why? This was his earnest effort to keep her hopefully grounded so she doesn’t light the Huskies up:

Talk about some elite gamesmanship. Auriemma knows that if Clark comes locked in ready for a historic performance, then UConn probably doesn’t have much of a chance to win. This is how you keep expectations low — by staying on a superstar’s good side.

Was Geno Auriemma taking a shot at Caitlin Clark by calling Paige Bueckers ‘the best player in America’?

Hmm.

Now, look: Caitlin Clark is amazing. Paige Bueckers is also amazing. We could leave it at that.

But legendary UConn coach Geno Auriemma might be playing some mind games, especially now that women’s March Madness is in full swing.

Bueckers led the Huskies to a win over Syracuse in the second round on Monday wit a 32-10-6 game. Afterwards, Auriemma declared she was “the best player in America,” basing it on the analytics and such.

Now: was that a shot at Clark? Especially if they meet later in the tourney? Or was it a way to pump up Bueckers?

I’d say the latter, probably. But you make the call:

Was Geno Auriemma taking a shot at Caitlin Clark by calling Paige Bueckers ‘the best player in America’?

Hmm.

Now, look: Caitlin Clark is amazing. Paige Bueckers is also amazing. We could leave it at that.

But legendary UConn coach Geno Auriemma might be playing some mind games, especially now that women’s March Madness is in full swing.

Bueckers led the Huskies to a win over Syracuse in the second round on Monday wit a 32-10-6 game. Afterwards, Auriemma declared she was “the best player in America,” basing it on the analytics and such.

Now: was that a shot at Clark? Especially if they meet later in the tourney? Or was it a way to pump up Bueckers?

I’d say the latter, probably. But you make the call:

UConn celebrated Geno Auriemma’s 70th birthday with hilariously customized shirts after first-round win

Now this is a great way for UConn to celebrate Geno Auriemma’s 70th birthday.

After the team’s opening-round victory over Jackson State in the 2024 women’s NCAA tournament on Saturday, the UConn women’s basketball team celebrated its head coach in a very spirited manner.

As it was longtime Huskies coach Geno Auriemma’s 70th birthday, the team wore customized shirts after the win to celebrate the coach and poke a little fun at him in the process.

Shirts included funny photos of Auriemma and one of the character Carl Fredrickson from the Pixar film Up.

This was a very funny way for UConn to honor its legendary basketball coach as the team attempts to win another national title.

We’ll see how far Auriemma’s team can get in what should be a very competitive women’s NCAA tournament this year.

With heavy hitters like South Carolina, USC and Iowa also contending this spring, it’s going to be a tough task for Auriemma’s team to win another championship for the school.

If they do, it’ll be a heck of a way to celebrate Auriemma’s 70th birthday season in style.

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Paige Bueckers isn’t going pro quite yet, will play 2024-25 season for UConn

Head coach Geno Auriemma learned about Paige Bueckers returning to school at the same time as everyone else in the arena.

On Friday night, University of Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers announced she’s returning to school for the 2024-25 season and forgoing entering the 2024 WNBA draft. During the senior night ceremony, Bueckers made the announcement after a Huskies win.

“I know everybody wants me to address the elephant in the room,” Bueckers said. “Unfortunately, this will not be my last senior night here at UConn.”

Head coach Geno Auriemma learned about Bueckers’ return at the same time as everyone else in the arena. However, he was not surprised that she would return.

“Paige is very, very bad at making decisions. When we were recruiting her, I had to threaten her because she couldn’t decide,” Auriemma said.

Bueckers explained why she was making the return.

“Just the family camaraderie here, just loving it here, loving my teammates, loving my coaches, me not having the four years that I planned on, not being able to play as much,” Bueckers said when asked by SNY about her decision. “I just feel like I’m not done yet here. I feel like God is still writing my story here. I’m just blessed to be a part of this program, and I never want it to end.”

Bueckers was projected to be a top 2024 WNBA draft pick, so teams will need to reprioritize their choices. The draft will be held on April 15.

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Geno Auriemma cracked a fitting ATM joke about stacking up more wins after hitting historic 1,200 wins milestone

We’ve never heard getting more wins be equated to withdrawing money, but it kind of works.

UConn women’s basketball has been going through a transformational season. Injuries have seemingly changed expectations and the team’s trajectory moving forward. Yet, under the guidance of head coach Geno Auriemma, the team is still maintaining its winning ways. Auriemma is now the third coach in NCAA Division I basketball history to get to 1,200 wins.

The 2023-2024 season has not exactly gone as planned for UConn women’s basketball. Despite star guard Paige Bueckers returning, the team lost Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin and several other players to injuries. That reality has forced Bueckers and Geno Auriemma to reevaluate the team’s future. Add in the changing NIL landscape, which did not sit well with Auriemma, and the season has been all about adjusting and creating a new norm.

But Auriemma is still managing to thrive in the chaos. On Wednesday, he coached his way to 1,200 wins, joining Mike Krzyzewski and Standford’s Tara Van Derveer as the only three coaches in NCAA Division I basketball history to reach the milestone.

Overall, Auriemma was seemingly very grateful for the moment and happy with the achievement, but postgame, he did manage to crack a joke about if he will solely own the record for most wins.

Here’s what he said:

“I would think more along the lines of single digits, not hundreds. This isn’t a casino ATM, you know? They spit out hundreds. It’s been my philosophy since the beginning that there isn’t a number that I’m searching for…that I’m trying to reach. There is no whale that I’m chasing and obsessed over. When it’s over, it’s over. And, whatever the number is at that time is what it’s going to be…I could probably say with a great deal of certainty that I’ll never be No. 1 in wins…”

Geno Auriemma takes not-so-subtle shot at NIL era athletes in pointed rant about recruiting challenges

In a new rant, Geno Auriemma called out NIL era athletes. His words eventually prompted Angel Reese to defend a fellow player.

UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma is in hot water after sharing his thoughts on how NIL deals have impacted the college landscape.

For many years, there has been much chatter about whether college athletes should be compensated for using their name, image and likeness (NIL). Universities nationwide have profited from stellar athletes (like Caitlin Clark) who draw attention and dollars to sports programs. That has prompted those same athletes to argue that they should see part of the money, spurring a massive culture-shifting movement for the foreseeable future.

However, some coaches don’t see it that way and are struggling to adjust to the impact NIL deals have made on their jobs, especially when it comes to recruiting and maintaining talent. Uconn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma recently shared what he feels are challenges in this new era.

Many fans quickly pieced together that he was seemingly taking a swipe at Lauren Park-Lane of Mississippi State when he mentioned Seton Hall during a press conference on January 13. She transferred from Seton Hall to Mississippi State after her 2022-23 season. The dig at Park-Lane prompted a response from the player herself.

As Auriemma’s words went through basketball circles, Park-Lane’s strength and conditioning coach and LSU star Angel Reese also responded, jumping in to defend the senior guard.

To be clear, Geno Auriemma is not wrong for sharing his thoughts, but coaches will never be able to have a nuanced conversation about the NIL era if they single out players or make sweeping assumptions about why a player may transfer.