Here is a press release from the UConn Huskies department of athletics about women’s head basketball coach Geno Auriemma being honored with the Winged Foot Award tonight.
STORRS, Conn. – University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma will receive the Winged Foot Award for the fifth time in his career on Thursday, May 7 at the New York Athletic Club.
The prestigious Winged Foot Award is presented annually to the winning coaches of the NCAA Women’s and Men’s Division I Basketball championships. North Carolina’s Roy Williams will also be honored Thursday evening.
Connecticut’s 76-54 rout of Louisville in the 2009 NCAA National Championship Game placed an exclamation point on an undefeated season for the Huskies. They finished the season an incredible 39-0 – the third perfect season in the program’s history and quite possibly its most dominant – as the Huskies became the first program in NCAA Division I history (men’s or women’s) to win each of its games by a margin of 10 points or more.
For his career, Auriemma has coached three undefeated teams (1995, 2002, 2009), won six national championships, garnered a total of 24 National Coach of the Year honors and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. He also will coach the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
WINNERS OF THE WOMEN’S WINGED FOOT AWARD: Carolyn Peck, Purdue (1999), Geno Auriemma, Connecticut (2000, 2002-04), Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame (2001), Kim Mulkey-Robertson, Baylor (2005), Brenda Frese, Maryland (2006) and Pat Summit, Tennessee (2007-2008), Geno Auriemma (2009)
WINNERS OF THE MEN’S WINGED FOOT AWARD: Rick Pitino, Kentucky (1996), Tubby Smith, Kentucky (1997), Jim Calhoun, Connecticut (1999 and 2004), Tom Izzo, Michigan State (2000), Mike Krzyzewski, Duke (2001), Gary Williams, Maryland (2002), Jim Boeheim, Syracuse (2003), Roy Williams, North Carolina (2005) and Billy Donavan, Florida (2006 and 2007).Bill Self (2008), Roy Williams (2009)
