Associate Head Coach Chris Dailey
23rd Season

Associate head coach Chris Dailey is in her 23rd season with the UConn basketball program. Dailey has been instrumental in teaming with head coach Geno Auriemma to build UConn into an unquestioned national power.

She is the coordinator of Connecticut’s highly successful recruiting efforts. Under her direction, Connecticut’s recruiting base spans the nation and the globe, with players joining the program from 27 different states, the District of Columbia and six foreign countries.

Arriving at Connecticut in the summer of 1985 along with Auriemma, Dailey served as primary assistant coach from 1985-88. In September of 1988, she was promoted to associate head coach.

In Auriemma's absence during the entire 1997 BIG EAST Conference Tournament from March 1-4 (due to the death of his father, Donato Auriemma), Dailey served as head coach, leading Connecticut to its fourth consecutive BIG EAST Tournament Championship. This marked the second time that a Dailey-directed UConn team earned the BIG EAST Tournament title. UConn's 1989 team won its first league tourney crown under her direction (while Auriemma served a suspension for a scheduling error).

Dailey earned her Masters Degree in Educational Administration in 1999 from UConn and was honored in 2005 with the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Neag School of Education Alumni Society. This award is the highest single honor given by the Neag School of Education and presented annually to the graduate that has had a significant impact on education, has a national reputation for their work, has been an inspiration to other professionals and has shown continued involvement with the Neag School of Education.

Dailey is a 1982 graduate of Rutgers with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. She received her master's degree from Connecticut in educational administration.

A native of New Brunswick, N.J., Dailey is no stranger to collegiate basketball success. She was a four-year forward (from 1978-82) for the nationally-ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Dailey served as a team captain as a junior and senior, and, as a senior in 1981-82, she helped lead her Rutgers squad to the AIAW Division I National Championship, as the Scarlet Knights defeated Texas 83-77.

During her four years at Rutgers, the team compiled a record of 108-23 (.824). Prior to Connecticut, Dailey served as the Cornell assistant basketball coach (1982-83) before returning to her alma mater as top assistant under head coach Theresa Grentz from 1983-85. In 1992, Chris was inducted into the Rutgers University Lady Knight Hall of Fame as a member of the 1982 National Championship Team.

During the 1995-96 academic year, she was one of eight alumnae of Rutgers' Douglass College featured in the college's national fund-raising campaign. In the winter of 2002, Dailey was inducted into the prestigious New Jersey Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame alongside the likes of Bobby Valentine, Jorge Posada, Andre Tippitt and Carl Banks. She also was honored with the NJSWA “Distinguished Service to Basketball” award.

In June of 2002, Dailey received the Clare Award from the Saint Franciscan Life Center which is given to a woman who exemplifies leadership, commitment to athletics and service to the community. In addition to her coaching duties, Dailey is involved in a number of regional charitable efforts as an honorary chair and as a noted speaker.

In the summer of 2000, Dailey was a recipient of the 2000 Girl Scouts Women of Merit Award, given to women who best exemplify the qualities of a girl scout. She served four years as honorary chair of the Connecticut chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Associations' annual "Walk-a-thon".

In October 1997, she was named the Connecticut Trails Counsel 1997 Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts Association. The last several years, Dailey has also been involved as the honorary chair to the following organizations: Food Allergy Network, March of Dimes-Women in Sports Celebration, Camp Courant and the Manchester Area Conference of Churches.

Dailey is a 1977 graduate of St. Peter’s High School, New Brunswick, N.J., where she earned All-State basketball honors and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame. She resides in Ellington, Conn.