NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
Geno Auriemma’s Hall of Fame resume includes 11 national championships and eight national coach of the year awards across his 40-seasons as the head coach of the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team.
Add all-time winningest coach in college basketball history to the list.
The UConn Huskies defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 85-41, on Wednesday to secure Auriemma’s 1,217th career win. With the victory, Auriemma broke the all-time wins record for an NCAA college basketball coach by surpassing former Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, who retired after last season with 1,216 career wins.
Many of Auriemma’s former players who helped him achieve the unprecedented feat returned to Storrs, Connecticut to witness history, including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore.
“You told me this things I needed to hear to be a better person, a better teammate, a better basketball player,” said Taurasi, who played for UConn from 2000–04 and won three national championships under Auriemma. “As I see every one here, whether we played on the same team or decades apart, we always put this jersey on to represent you because we know how much you love this team, the game of basketball and your family.”
Taurasi continued: “Banners, Hall of Famers, MVPs, champions, players of the year, we always come back because of you coach… don’t you ever forget that.”
Here’s how the basketball community reacted to Auriemma’s milestone:
Tara VanDerveer
Former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who held the previous all-time wins record (1,216) set in January, said Auriemma’s success “will never be duplicated.” Auriemma is one of four coaches to have compiled 1,000 Division-I wins — VanDerveer, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and the late Pat Summitt of Tennessee.
Dan Hurley
UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley, who was on hand for Wednesday’s victory, said Auriemma is “one of the greatest to ever do it.” Other coaches at the University of Connecticut joined in with praise.
