STORRS — UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has gotten used to the spotlight after leading the Huskies to 11 national championships over the last four decades, but the legendary head coach has never been comfortable as the center of attention.
He’ll face that discomfort head on this week with the Huskies expected to welcome more than 60 former players back to Storrs for a celebration of his 40th season at UConn alongside associate head coach Chris Dailey. Auriemma will also become the winningest coach in the history of college basketball with a win against Fairleigh Dickinson at Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday (7 p.m., SNY). The victory would be the 1,217th of his career, surpassing the record set by former Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer last season.
“He gives credit to everybody around him, and he doesn’t really take it for himself,” Huskies star Paige Bueckers said. “But what he’s built here, it’s here because of him, so he definitely downplays it. He doesn’t want to do the whole thing: the celebration, the goats, the ice cream, it’s all extra to him. 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.”
When Auriemma accepted the job at UConn back in 1985, he never expected his tenure to last more than four seasons. He spent four years prior to his first head coaching opportunity as an assistant under Debbie Ryan at Virginia, helping the Cavaliers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1984. Suddenly he found himself in rural Connecticut at the helm of a team that had just one 10-win season in the previous 11 years. When he interviewed, he wasn’t even shown the field house where the women’s team practiced and played until 1990.
“I knew what I was getting myself into at the time, don’t get me wrong. But it was worse that I thought,” Auriemma said. “I was just so anxious for the opportunity, but there was a time in late August I’ll never forget. Kathy (Auriemma’s wife) and I went for a walk … and I just took a deep breath and looked at her and said, ‘What are we doing here?’
“Good thing I didn’t dwell on that, because that’s when it dawned on me that this was going to be very daunting. This was going to be really, really hard, and there’s not a whole lot of people that were going to be stepping up to help you.”
Four decades later, Auriemma has built a no-name program into the most prolific powerhouse in all of women’s basketball. Beyond the national championships that headline his resume, Auriemma’s Huskies have reached the Final Four 23 times, and he has coached 27 All-Americans and seven Naismith Players of the Year. Bueckers, a favorite to win the Naismith Award in 2024-25, is the latest in a long line of UConn superstars, and she attributes most of her collegiate success to Auriemma’s influence.
“He’s meant everything to me,” Bueckers said. “Just what he’s done for me as a person, as a player, how he’s made me better and challenged me in way I didn’t even know I could be challenged. He forced me to really get a lot out of myself that I didn’t even know I had. And just what he means a a person, a mentor, a coach, just a figure I can go up to and talk to about anything. We have this great relationship where we have open dialogue and can really communicate.”
The dynasty Auriemma created in Storrs has also provided current and former players with an unparalleled network of alumni to lean on. The star-studded list of expected attendees at Wednesday’s game includes 22 current and former WNBA players, headlined by legends including Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Rebecca Lobo.
Former Husky Aaliyah Edwards, fresh off of her rookie WNBA season with the Washington Mystics, made an appearance at practice Tuesday ahead of the milestone game, and she was welcomed back by a chorus of delighted shrieks from her former teammates that echoed down the hall. Bueckers also revealed she has been in regular contact with Bird as she embraces a new level of leadership responsibility this season.
“Obviously it started off like, they were my idols, so I was super nervous, super scared, super shy to talk to (the alumni),” Bueckers said. “I was intimidated by them, but to get to know them as people, they’re very welcoming. It’s really sister sisterhood here at UConn. They’ll be there when you need them, when you need words of advice, when you need words of encouragement, when you need to pick me up, just if you need anything, they’re always there to communicate with you and be there with you every step of the way.”
How to watch
Site: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs
Time: 7 p.m.
Team records: UConn: 3-0, Fairleigh Dickinson: 4-1
Last meeting: 74-28 UConn, Nov. 25, 2011 in Storrs
TV: SNY (network will also broadcast the pregame ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m.)
Streaming: SNY.tv, FOXSports.com
