STORRS, Conn. – UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma has been selected as the Region 1 Coach of the Year, as announced by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association on Wednesday, March 26. Auriemma is one of eight Russell Athletic/Regional Coaches of the Year and is now a finalist for the inaugural Pat Summitt Trophy to be presented to the 2014 Russell Athletic/WBCA NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year.
The other seven finalists for the award are Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw (Region 2), South Carolina’s Dawn Staley (Region 3), Bowling Green’s Jennifer Roos (Region 4), Baylor’s Kim Mulkey (Region 5), Indiana’s Curt Miller (Region 6), Colorado State’s Ryun Williams (Region 7) and Oregon State’s Scott Rueck (Region 8).
Auriemma, who has led the Huskies to eight national championships in his 29 years at UConn, is a five-time WBCA National Coach of the Year and has won the AP Coach of the Year honor on seven occasions. The 2013-14 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Auriemma has been selected as the conference coach of the year 11 times. It was recently announced that Auriemma is one of four finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award, which he has won six times.
The 2014 Russell Athletic/WBCA NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year will be announced during the fourth annual WBCA Awards Show on Monday, April 7, in the Omni Nashville Hotel’s Broadway Ballroom. This event is part of the WBCA National Convention and is held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women’s Final Four®.
This is the first year the physical award presented to the six Russell Athletic/WBCA National Coaches of the Year will bear Summitt’s name. It will be the only national coach of the year award to do so. The legendary University of Tennessee head coach, who stepped down in April 2012, is the winningest basketball coach (men’s or women’s) in NCAA Division I history with 1,098 career victories. Summitt led the Lady Vols to eight NCAA Division I national championships and was named the Russell Athletic/WBCA NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year three times in her career.
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photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant
