Destined To Be Historically Underrated? Geno Auriemma Needs More Praise

The numbers don’t lie. Connecticut’s women’s basketball coach, Geno Auriemma’s, statistics are that of coaching icons like: John Wooden, Dean Smith, Bobby Knight, Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski and Pat Summit. Career record: 735 wins and 122 losses (a 85.6 winning percentage). Auriemma’s Huskies have won seven National Championships during his tenure in Storrs, including the well-documented win-streak of 78 games in-a-row, 77 of which were by double-digits. Four of the six undefeated women’s basketball teams belong to Auriemma-lead squads and the most recent version won their games by an average of 34.9 points, as well as winning by over 25 points in the 27 games against Top-25 teams. Read those numbers again. Let them sink in.

However, despite all he’s accomplished, the big question mark looming over Auriemma’s name and legacy is, “Could he be as successful, on the big stage, coaching men?” Ever the coy salesman, he won’t say for sure if he even wants to. Recently he joked that if Coach K wanted to focus solely on the Olympic team, that he’d gladly hold his spot in Durham for him. It could be argued that Auriemma is protecting his legacy by not branching-out to more prolific endeavors. Maybe his ego enjoys being the proverbial big fish in the small pond so much that it’s not worth venturing into deeper water to find out.

While clearly a good tactician, Auriemma excels with the way he motivates his players. He walks that fine line of breaking them down and building them up. He has the innate ability to get his players to believe that thought they’ve won 78 in-a-row, they are still the underdogs in their next game. He tells each player that she has so many glaring flaws in her game that they’re lucky he allows them lace-up their shoes and play for him. Ultimately, his motivation centers around the fact that though their two-year record may be perfect, they have yet to play a perfect game, and that’s what they all should be striving for.

So while others use the “women’s basketball” argument to prevent mentioning Auriemma’s name among the all-time best coaches, I prefer to take the numbers for what they are. As long as his women’s team is playing other women’s teams on the same sized court with the same height basket, then I’m inclined to tip my cap to this master motivator.

Ten games into the 2010-11 season, Geno Auriemma’s team could tie John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins 88-game win streak of the 1970’s and, health-willing, I suspect a then 100-year-old Wooden will be one of the first to congratulate Auriemma and confirm his place among the coaching legends. However they will never be mentioned in the same breath together. Which, right now, is as it should be. The issue is that no matter what Geno Auriemma accomplishes on this level he will never get the historical superlatives that he truly deserves.

Where Geno Auriemma ranks in your personal list of greatest college coaches? Could he do anything to break that ‘Women’s Coach’ barrier?

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