Kinda like the luck of my dating life being a day late and a dollar short, I’d like to offer a belated congratulations to UCONN Women’s Basketball Coach Geno Auriemma on his induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Geno was inducted to the Hall of Fame this past Friday night with along Charles “Round Mound of Rebound” Barkley, Dominique “Human Highlight Film” Wilkins, Joe “Good Boy of the Bad Boys” Dumars, Dave “The Commish” Gavitt, and Italian National Team Coach Sandro Gamba. He joins UCONN Men’s Coach Jim Calhoun, who was inducted last season, in the Hall of Fame. To my knowledge, they are the only two coaches from the same school that are in the Hall of Fame.
Geno started his coaching career as an assistant coach at Virginia before taking his first and only head coaching job at UCONN in 1985. In 1991, Geno had his team in the Final Four and after 10 yrs as a coach at UCONN had his first national championship in 1995. The team went a record 35-0 to win it all that year. In 2001-2002 season, Geno’s Huskies achieved another perfect season amassing a 39-0 record. Overall Geno’s Huskies have won a total of 5 National Championships.
In 21 seasons, Auriemma has an overall record of 589-116. In those 21 seasons, Geno has had only one losing record and that came in his first year of coaching the Huskies (12-15 in 1985-86).
Look for Mel Thomas, Keita Swanier, Renee Montgomery, Brittany Hunter and the rest of Lady Huskies to get Geno to his 600th career victory this upcoming season.
Once again, congratulations to Coach Geno Auriemma.
CORRECTION: Auriemma and Calhoun are the only two active coaches from the same school in the Hall of Fame.
