STORRS, Conn. — Geno Auriemma has spent four decades building UConn into the standard for women’s basketball.
The school celebrated those 40 years Wednesday night. The Huskies coach, along with longtime assistant Chris Dailey, were honored before his second-ranked team faces Fairleigh Dickinson.
He is currently tied with Tara VanDerveer for the most wins in college basketball history with 1,216. It would be a monumental upset if he doesn’t break it against the Knights.
UConn had celebrations all day for Auriemma and Dailey. More than 60 alumni, including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Rebecca Lobo were in attendance. Nearly two dozen of them played in the WNBA.
The former UConn players were part of the record 11 national championships that the school has won. UConn has reached the Final Four 23 times, including in 15 of the past 16 seasons.
Before the game, the school presented the pair with ruby colored glass basketballs in honor of their 40 years at UConn.
There was also a petting zoo with, fittingly, goats across from the arena as well as ice cream from the famous UConn Dairy Barn. They created a flavor “Legend-Berry Legacy” in honor of the two coaches.
“He gives credit to everybody around him, and he doesn’t really take it for himself,” Huskies star Paige Bueckers said. “But what he’s built here, it’s here because of him, so he definitely downplays it. He doesn’t want to do the whole thing: the celebration, the goats, the ice cream, it’s all extra to him. But he deserves it, and we want to celebrate him, because he doesn’t celebrate himself a lot. So everyone around him will make sure they do that job.”
Auriemma began his journey with UConn in 1985 and currently is 1,216-162 in his career. He has only had one losing season in his career — his first one with the Huskies. Before coming to the school from Virginia, the program had only one winning season.
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