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Geno Auriemma is as entertaining as ever in his latest rant
Maybe some people get offended easily when coaches use salty language. Perhaps some people want their coaches to be as vanilla as possible.
Me, I love it when coaches speak openly and from the heart, which is why my reaction to Geno Auriemma's latest rant against his critics was laughter not outrage.
Midway through an entertaining hour-long interview on a Grantland podcast earlier this week, host Zach Lowe asked Auriemma if he ever gets bored leading a program so dominant that it has made eight straight Final Fours and captured 10 of the last 20 national titles. While responding, Auriemma tore into a segment of the UConn fan base that has been critical in spite of the program's overwhelming success.
"Some of our fans are so g-- d--- stupid it's unbelievable," Auriemma said. "They complain a lot of times that we have no competition and that it's boring. Then if we play a really good team, don't play our A-game and we lose, they bitch that something's wrong with UConn. How the hell did we lose that game? 'This kid's not any good. That kid's not any good. Geno Auriemma got outcoached by this coach.' It's unbelievable."
Auriemma also railed against those who dislike UConn later in the podcast.
"There's this perception that we only win because we get the best players. I heard this WNBA coach say, 'I don't like Connecticut. They're bad for the game because they dominate so much. They get the best players and they kill everybody.' And I'm like, 'That's the most idiotic statement I've ever heard.' That just goes to show you how ignorant some people are.
"Let's say we get two high school All-Americans every year. Let's just say. The people we beat also get two. So if there's 20 kids that make first team All-American, that play in the McDonald's All-American Game and we get two. Or three. What happens to the other 17 guys? So obviously we're doing something a little different than just getting the best players. No. 1, we get the right players, and then we try to do the right thing by them."
While Auriemma comes across a bit thin-skinned and oversensitive here, his comments are also an excellent window into what makes him so successful.
He's honest, clever and funny, which surely goes a long way when trying to connect with an elite recruit or her parents during an in-home visit. He's also hyper-aware of every slight hurled in his direction, which no doubt helps him avoid complacency and remain motivated in spite of his program's juggernaut status.
In reality, the UConn women's program receives far more accolades than criticism for their contributions to women's basketball. For every column or message-board post complaining UConn's reign of terror makes the sport dull, there are a half dozen others lauding Auriemma for engineering the greatest college basketball dynasty since John Wooden's UCLA teams.
It's a shame Auriemma's rants against his critics have received so much attention because the most compelling part of his interview was actually a story he told about Diana Taurasi.
When Auriemma instructed the USA Women's team to go zone against the Czech Republic late in the title game of the 2010 World Championships, an opposing player took advantage of a late close-out by Tina Charles and buried a 3-pointer. The next possession, Taurasi sprinted back down court to let her former college coach know what she thought of his tactics.
"She runs all the way back in front of our bench in front of our whole team, looks me in the eye, and says, 'Get the f--- out of this zone right now,' Auriemma said. "I just cracked up. It was pretty funny. All the other players had this stunned look on their face, and I just turned around and said, 'Don't you guys get any ideas. She's allowed to do this. Nobody else.'"
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
