During his illustrious tenure, Auriemma has transformed the
UConn program into the standard that all others are measured, both on and off
the court.
On the court, his success includes five national
championships and complete dominance in the BIG EAST Conference. Off the court,
success means a flawless graduation rate and one of the most beloved sports
teams in the country.
Under his guidance, the Huskies been transformed from a
program with only one winning record to its credit, to its current state, which
includes five national championships, eight Final Fours and 28 BIG EAST
titles since Auriemma’s arrival in 1985.
This unmatched success, which is the standard for
collegiate programs nationally, was recognized with Auriemma’s induction into
both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Springfield, Mass.) and the
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (Knoxville, Tenn.) in 2006.
He ranks as the first coach in women's basketball history to guide
a team to five consecutive Final Four appearances. Auriemma became the fastest
coach in NCAA Division I Women’s
Basketball history to reach 600 career wins on Dec. 31, 2006 - taking just 716
games to reach the milestone.
Auriemma is a five-time national coach-of-the-year and has been named the BIG
EAST coach-of-the-year six times.
His 22-year overall record stands at 621-120 (.838), one of the best winning
percentages all-time among Division I coaches and he also is the second-fastest
coach overall to eclipse the 500-win mark - taking just 599 games.
The Huskies consistency has been remarkable as the program has won either the
BIG EAST Regular Season or
Tournament title in each of the past 14 seasons and 17 of the past 19 overall.
Connecticut's postseason success under Auriemma has been legendary as the
Huskies have won the BIG EAST
Tournament crown in 11 of the last 14 seasons and boast a current streak of 14
consecutive NCAA Regional appearances.
Auriemma also guided UConn to its 12th 30-win season in 2007 - its 12th in the
past 14 years. The Huskies played in the "Elite Eight" of the NCAA Tournament
for the second consecutive season in 2007 and have advanced to the Regional
Finals in seven of the last eight years overall. Connecticut posted a perfect 16-0 BIG EAST
mark in 2006-07 - its sixth unblemished conference record in program history.
The 2003-04 season was a historical one - even for the tradition-rich
Connecticut program - as it became only the second program in NCAA history to
win three consecutive national titles.
The road to their third straight title was a bumpy one at times for the Huskies,
but with Auriemma's leadership the team never wavered from achieving their
ultimate goal, despite encountering a few detours along the way.
In 2003-04, the Huskies tied the NCAA-record for consecutive home court wins at
69 straight games and won the BIG EAST Regular Season Title for the 11th
consecutive season.
Senior standout Diana Taurasi was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final
Four for the second consecutive season and was also honored as the Naismith
National Player of the Year for the second time in her career, in addition to
being the recipient of the Honda Award and the Nancy Lieberman Award.
The 2002-03 season, despite an influx of new faces, mirrored Auriemma teams of
the past. The squad continued the program’s winning tradition by bringing home
UConn's fourth women's basketball national championship and also broke the NCAA
Division I women's record for most consecutive victories with 70-straight.
Connecticut shattered the previous mark of 54 set by Louisiana Tech with its
55th-straight win on January 18, 2003, versus Georgetown in the Hartford Civic
Center.
For the fourth time in UConn history, the Huskies finished the regular season
undefeated with a perfect 29-0 record. They went on to capture UConn's 10th
straight BIG EAST regular season title and continued their winning ways into the
postseason, making their seventh Final Four appearance.
After two competitive games in the Final Four, the Huskies earned their fourth
NCAA Women's Basketball Championship and became only the third school to do so
in back-to-back years. Junior Diana Taurasi was named the 2003 Final Four Most
Outstanding Player, while freshman Ann Strother was named to the Final Four
All-Tournament team. It was the first time in women's or men's basketball
history that a program earned the national championship without a senior on its
roster.
Accolades for the 2002-03 season continued to pour in. Auriemma was named the
BIG EAST Coach of the Year as well as the United States Basketball Writer's
Association (USBWA) Women's Basketball Coach of the Year and Associated Press
Coach of the Year. Taurasi garnered Player of the Year honors from the
Associated Press, USBWA and Naismith and earned the Wade Trophy and the NCAA
Honda Award for the nation's most outstanding women's basketball player. Taurasi
earned her second straight Kodak All-America award and was named Associated
Press First Team All-America for her outstanding play and leadership during
UConn's 37-1 run through the 2002-03 championship season.
Auriemma's 2001-02 squad recorded the second undefeated season in program
history with a 39-0 mark and registered UConn's third national championship and
sixth Final Four appearance. Auriemma's teams also won the 1995 and 2000
national titles.
Featuring Kodak All-Americans Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Diana
Taurasi, the 2001-02 Huskies posted an NCAA record-tying 39 wins and a 35.4
average margin of victory, another NCAA record. His team also earned its 12th
BIG EAST regular season title and 11th BIG EAST tournament crown as the Huskies
made their 14th consecutive NCAA appearance.
The 1999-2000 national championship season included a then-school-record
19-straight weeks ranked No. 1 in the national polls and a final record of 36-1.
UConn captured the program's first national title in 1994-95, when Auriemma led
the Huskies to a perfect 35-0 record. UConn was only the second team in Division
I women's basketball history to go undefeated en route to the national
championship. The Huskies became the first unbeaten team in NCAA history (all
divisions, men or women) to win 35 games in a season.
Under Auriemma's direction, UConn ranked second nationally in Division I
victories in the 1990's (Jan. 1, 1990-Dec. 31, 1999) with 290 total wins. The
Huskies were also second in the nation in total winning percentage (.860) in the
decade as well as establishing a BIG EAST record for conference victories (158).
After inheriting a Husky program that had just one winning season in its 11-year
history, Auriemma has posted 21 winning seasons since arriving at UConn in
August of 1985. The Huskies also now hold every BIG EAST single-game and
single-season home-court attendance record.
Since 1988-89, the first season the Huskies earned a BIG EAST regular season
championship, UConn ranks No. 1 among all BIG EAST teams in league regular
season wins (290-29, a .909 winning percentage). Coupled with UConn's 49-6
(.891) record in BIG EAST Tournament action since 1989.
The development of national caliber student-athletes has been Auriemma's forte
during his UConn coaching tenure. Every recruited freshman that has played for
Auriemma at Connecticut and completed her eligibility at UConn has obtained her
undergraduate degree.
Impressively, since the 1991-92 season, 32 of UConn's starters - 21 different
players - have been on the Dean's List.
Among these 21 players are four of the most highly acclaimed women's basketball
players ever - Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Kara Wolters and Sue Bird. All
four of these student-athletes earned Associated Press National Player of the
Year honors and won the Wade Trophy and Honda Broderick Awards.
Most recently, Diana Taurasi joined the elite four by being named a consensus
National Player of the Year in 2002-03.
Auriemma has coached 10 First Team Kodak All-Americans, with the most recent
selections of Bird, Cash and Taurasi. This includes 11 consecutive seasons
(1993-2004) where at least one UConn player earned Kodak All-America honors - a
total of 18 selections, with Taurasi earning her third consecutive in 2004.
UConn's home court record also stands as one of the most impressive in the
nation. In Auriemma's tenure, UConn is 328-35 at home against collegiate
opponents, including a 16-2 mark in 2006-07, for a sparkling .904 winning
percentage.
By building such a dynamic program, Huskymania fan support and enthusiasm is at
an all-time high. UConn was second nationally in total home attendance for all
Division I women's programs in 2006-07, attracting 237,642 fans for 22 home
dates in Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and the Hartford Civic Center. The Huskies
have sold out 116 home games since 1997.
Prior to taking the UConn position, Auriemma served as the primary assistant
women's coach at the University of Virginia under head coach Debbie Ryan from
1981-85. He helped lead the Cavaliers to the Atlantic Coast Conference
championship in 1984.
Before his Virginia position, Auriemma was assistant women's basketball coach at
St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia with then-head coach Jim Foster (now
Ohio State women's basketball head coach). He also coached boys' basketball at
his high school alma mater, Bishop Kenrick High School in Norristown, Pa., from
1979-81.
Auriemma has found success even beyond the college coaching ranks due to his
involvement with USA Basketball. In the summer of 2000, Auriemma represented the
United States at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, as an assistant coach
of the gold medal winning Olympic Team.
That same summer, Auriemma led the 2000 USA Women's Basketball Junior World
Championship team to a gold medal in the COPABA Junior World Cup Qualifying
Tournament in Argentina. Auriemma and the squad advanced to the 2001 FIBA Junior
World Championship for women held in the Czech Republic in July of 2001, and
returned with the bronze. In April of 1996, he was co-head coach of the National
Senior All-Stars when the All-Stars met the United States National Team.
During the summer of 1996, he served as coach of the USA Basketball Select Team
in Colorado Springs, Colo. In January of 1995, Auriemma was named an assistant
coach of the USA World University Games Women's Basketball Team, which played in
Fukuoka, Japan, in the summer of 1995; due to personal conflicts, however, he
had to relinquish that position. He also served as head coach of the West Team
at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival in San Antonio, Texas.
In the summer of 2002, Auriemma was selected as a member of the inaugural
induction class to the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and he was enshrined
in the Italian-American Hall of Fame in November 2007.
In addition to his coaching duties, Auriemma serves on several national
basketball committees. He was a four-year member of the Kodak All-America
Selection Committee and was named chair of that committee in January of 1992. He
has also been a voting member of the USA TODAY/WBCA Top 25 Poll. He was
recently named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Board of
Directors and will serve as the organization’s vice president in 2007 and 2008.
Auriemma has also worked as an analyst during ABC’s and ESPN’s coverage of the
WNBA in recent seasons.
An accomplished speaker, Auriemma also is involved in numerous regional and
state charitable and educational efforts. For the last nine years, Auriemma was
the chair of Y-Me of New England Connecticut Golf Tournament, a fund-raising
organization for breast cancer support programs, and also has served as the
State of Connecticut honorary chair for the American Heart Association.
In the fall of 1993, Auriemma was elected into the National Mortar Board
academic honor society for his outstanding contributions to UConn academics and
for community service.
Auriemma currently serves as co-chair of the Connecticut Arthritis Foundation.
In May of 1994, Auriemma was awarded the prestigious UConn Club Outstanding
Contribution Award for his service and commitment to Husky athletics.
In tribute to the Huskies' first NCAA National
Championship, and for his commitment to intercollegiate athletes and service in
the community, Auriemma received two special awards in 1995.
He was one of four recipients of the 1995 Center for the
Study of Sport in Society "National Student-Athlete Day Giant Steps Award",
presented in Boston. He was also honored with "Geno Auriemma Day" at the
National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on August 9, 1995.
Auriemma has given back to the university as well. In
November 1998, he and his wife Kathy gave a $125,000 gift to the University of
Connecticut Library.
Auriemma is a 1981 graduate of West Chester with a B.A. in
political science. He resides in Manchester, Conn., with Kathy and has three
children: Jenna (24), Alyssa (22) and Michael (19).