STORRS,
Conn. (March 24, 2008) - University of Connecticut women’s
basketball head coach
Geno Auriemma has been named
as the recipient of the 2008 Russell/WBCA Division I National Coach
of the Year, which was announced by the Women’s Basketball Coaches
Association (WBCA) Monday afternoon.
This marks the fourth time Auriemma has been recognized by his peers
as the National Coach of the Year. Auriemma was previously selected
following the 1996-97, 1999-00 and 2001-02 seasons.
During his 23-year head coaching tenure, Auriemma has now garnered a
combined total of 15 national coach of the year honors.
“I am honored to present this award to a very worthy candidate in
Geno,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. “He exemplifies what coaching is all
about. On behalf of the WBCA, I congratulate Geno for an amazing
job.”
Auriemma was also named as 2008 BIG EAST Co-Coach of the Year, after
leading Connecticut to a 33-1 mark, entering Tuesday’s NCAA second
round tilt with Texas.
Under Auriemma’s direction, the Huskies have already clinched the
13th 30-win season in the program’s history, all coming since
Auriemma took over the reigns in 1985-86.
Despite losing two starters to injury, UConn collected both the
conference regular season and tournament titles for the 12th time in
the program’s history and the first time since 2002.
Auriemma has amassed a career mark of 654-121 and stands as the
first coach in history to guide a team to five consecutive NCAA
Final Four appearances and is the fastest coach to reach the
600-career win mark.
Under Auriemma’s guidance, the Huskies have collected five national
championships, been to eight Final Fours and tallied a total of 30
BIG EAST titles with regular season and tournament championships
combined.
The No. 1 seed Huskies (Greensboro Region) continue their NCAA
Tournament run on Tuesday night when they meet No. 8 seed Texas
(22-12) in Bridgeport at approximately 9:30 p.m. (ET).
