Geno Auriemma

Geno Auriemma
Auriemma in March 2008
Sport(s)	Women's college basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	University of Connecticut
Biographical details
Born	March 23, 1954 (1954-03-23) Montella, Italy
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1985–current	University of Connecticut
Head coaching record
Overall	771–124 (.861)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 7 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championships (1995, 2000, 2002–2004, 2009, 2010) 15-time Big East Champions 14-time Big East Tournament Champions
Awards Naismith Coach of the Year (1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009) WBCA National Coach of the Year (2002, 2008, 2009) AP Coach of the Year (1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2011) Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Basketball Hall of Fame National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006

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, which he has led to seven NCAA Division I national championships (in 1995, 2000, 2002–2004, 2009 and 2010). He has won six national Naismith College Coach of the Year awards.

He emigrated with his family to Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. when he was seven years old, and spent the rest of his childhood there. After graduating from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 1977, Auriemma was hired as an assistant coach 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, before assuming an assistant coaching position with the University of Virginia Cavaliers in 1981. Auriemma became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994, 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.

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

UConn career

Before Auriemma, the Huskies had posted just one winning season in their entire history. As was true at many schools at the time, Connecticut did not have a strong commitment to women's sports. Both players and coaches had to scrape for facilities and resources. Eventually, some students wishing to form a soccer team threatened to sue the university. The Trustees went on record supporting women's sports, and the administration decided to provide more support, especially for sports with a potential for revenue, such as women's basketball. The decision to hire a new coach was part of this commitment to strengthen the women's sports at Connecticut. 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. Ironically, 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.

Connecticut quickly rose to prominence after Auriemma was hired in August 1985: they finished 12–15 in Auriemma's first season, his only losing season at Connecticut. Since then, Connecticut has finished above .500 for 24 consecutive seasons, including four undefeated seasons (1994–95, 2001–02, 2008–09 and 2009–10) and at least 2 NCAA record streaks of 90 and 70 consecutive wins. On December 21, 2010, UConn under Auriemma surpassed the UCLA men's team as holders of the all-time NCAA consecutive wins record at 89. At end of the 2009–10 season, Auriemma's record as a head coach was 735–122, for an 85.8 winning percentage. That winning percentage is the highest among Division I active coaches. His career in Storrs also includes 15 seasons with 30 or more wins. UConn has won 7 national championships under Auriemma (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, and 2010) and made the Final Four 12 times (1991, 1995, 1996, 2000–2004, 2008–2011). Auriemma has also guided UConn to 15 Big East regular season titles and 14 Big East Tournament titles.

The team has been especially successful on its home court in the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut; 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. At Gampel, 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 Ten multiple-All-America players—Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Kara Wolters, Nykesha Sales, Svetlana Abrosimova, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles and Maya Moore—whom Auriemma has coached have combined to win six Naismith College Player of the Year awards, six Wade Trophies, and seven 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 has extended to Auriemma's relationship with Volunteers counterpart Pat Summitt; the two, through print and broadcast media, are 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 has one more National Championship than Auriemma, however. 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.

Pat Summitt declined to continue the yearly game in June, 2007, to the disappointment of Women's College Basketball fans, but the prospect of NCAA matchups between UConn and Tennessee will keep the rivalry alive.

Since achieving its 1st #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 Black Friday (shopping day after U.S. Thanksgiving) November 27, 2009 in just 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 currently have 700 or more wins. Auriemma was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.

Head coaching record

-*Season in progress

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Connecticut (Big East) (1985–Present)
1985–86	Connecticut	12–15	4–12	7
1986–87	Connecticut	14–13	9–7	4
1987–88	Connecticut	17–11	9–7	5
1988–89	Connecticut	24–6	13–2	1	NCAA 1st round
1989–90	Connecticut	25–6	14–2	1	NCAA 2nd round
1990–91	Connecticut	29–5	14–2	1	NCAA Final Four
1991–92	Connecticut	23–11	13–5	2	NCAA 2nd round
1992–93	Connecticut	18–11	12–6	1	NCAA 1st round
1993–94	Connecticut	30–3	17–1	1	NCAA Elite 8
1994–95	Connecticut	35–0	18–0	1	NCAA Champions
1995–96	Connecticut	34–4	17–1	1	NCAA Final Four
1996–97	Connecticut	33–1	18–0	1	NCAA Elite 8
1997–98	Connecticut	34–3	17–1	1	NCAA Elite 8
1998–99	Connecticut	29–5	17–1	1	NCAA Sweet 16
1999–2000	Connecticut	36–1	16–0	1	NCAA Champions
2000–01	Connecticut	32–3	15–1	1	NCAA Final Four
2001–02	Connecticut	39–0	16–0	1	NCAA Champions
2002–03	Connecticut	37–1	16–0	1	NCAA Champions
2003–04	Connecticut	31–4	14–2	1	NCAA Champions
2004–05	Connecticut	25–8	13–2	2	NCAA Sweet 16
2005–06	Connecticut	32–5	14–2	2	NCAA Elite 8
2006–07	Connecticut	32–4	16–0	1	NCAA Elite 8
2007–08	Connecticut	36–2	17–1	1	NCAA Final Four
2008–09	Connecticut	39–0	16–0	1	NCAA Champions
2009–10	Connecticut	39–0	16–0	1	NCAA Champions
2010–11	Connecticut	36–2	16–0	1	NCAA Final Four
2011–12*	Connecticut
Connecticut:		771–124	377–55
Total:		771–124
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

Honors and other activities

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.

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 capacity he often critiques his former players. [1]

In November 2007, Auriemma was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, in a class that included Dick Vermeil, Mike Scioscia, Fred Couples, and others.

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

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

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 if the USA qualifies, he will coach the team in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England.

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

Auriemma was named one of the 2010 co-winners of the Big East Conference Coach of the Year, an honor he shared with Mike Carey of West Virginia University.

Auriemma won the Big East Conference Coach of the Year award for 2011. He was the outright winner this year. This is the fourth consecutive year he has won the award; in the prior three seasons he was a co-winner.

Records

Auriemma is the leader among active coaches in winning percentage at 86.1.

Auriemma's 7 national championships is second to Pat Summitt's 8.

There have only been 6 undefeated seasons in NCAA women's college basketball. Auriemma holds 4 of these seasons (1995, 2002, 2009, 2010).

Auriemma was the quickest women's coach to reach 500 wins, doing so in his 18th season.

Auriemma set a record of 5 consecutive trips to the Final Four.

Auriemma's 2008-2010 teams broke a record for consecutive games won in college basketball with 90, beginning after a loss to Stanford on April 6, 2008 and ending with a loss to Stanford on December 30, 2010. They topped the mark set by his 2001-03 team who had won 70 straight.

See also

• List of college women's basketball coaches with 600 wins

References

• Auriemma, G.; MacMullan, J. (2006). Geno: In pursuit of Perfection. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-57764-2. 
• Grundy, Pamela (2005). Shattering the glass. New Press. ISBN 978-1565848221. 
• Karmel, Terese (2005). Hoop Tales:UConn Huskies Women's Basketball (First ed.). Globe Pequot Press. ISBN 0-7627-3501-5. 

External links

• Geno's Summer Basketball Program - The Connecticut Girls Basketball Camp
• University of Connecticut biography
• Women's Basketball Hall of Fame profile
• Basketball Hall of Fame induction announcement
• Basketball Hall of Fame profile
• Photos of Auriemma some of with his teams
• Los Angeles Times article on relationship with Calhoun