{"id":843795,"date":"2025-04-26T17:11:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/26\/uconn-coach-geno-auriemma-talks-about-his-future-and-why-hes-fine-with-being-called-gramps\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T17:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:11:56","slug":"uconn-coach-geno-auriemma-talks-about-his-future-and-why-hes-fine-with-being-called-gramps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/26\/uconn-coach-geno-auriemma-talks-about-his-future-and-why-hes-fine-with-being-called-gramps\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn coach Geno Auriemma talks about his future and why he’s fine with being called ‘gramps’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Legendary University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma has reached the pinnacle of college basketball for a record 12th time, but he\u2019s not ready to call it a career just yet.<\/p>\n

The 71-year-old Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer spoke about his future on Monday on “TODAY,” one day after his Huskies cut down the nets in celebration of their\u00a0first NCAA women\u2019s basketball title since 2016<\/a>. Their 12 national titles are now the most of any men\u2019s or women\u2019s college basketball team in history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows when that morning I wake up and I just say, \u2018Listen, I can\u2019t do it anymore,\u2019\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t see that being tomorrow morning, let\u2019s put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s 82-59 rout of defending national champion South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament final on Sunday came 30 years after Auriemma\u2019s first national title with the Huskies. He\u2019s already thinking about pursuing title No. 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you have the kind of work experience that I have, every day I\u2019m surrounded by people who are alive, they\u2019re young, they\u2019re moving, they\u2019re growing, and you get swept up in all that,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cI\u2019m 71 by numbers, but I don\u2019t know that I feel that because every day I\u2019m surrounded by young people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can call me \u2018Gramps\u2019 or \u2018Pops\u2019 or whatever they want to call me, but at the end of the day I feel like I\u2019m having an impact on them, and they\u2019re having an impact on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

One player Auriemma particularly helped is star guard Paige Bueckers.<\/p>\n

The two shared an emotional hug in the final moments of the win over South Carolina after a journey in which Bueckers rebounded from a torn ACL that caused her to miss an entire season to finish her career as a champion and the third-leading scorer in UConn history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a moment of, \u2018Man, this kid\u2019s been through a lot,\u2019\u201d Auriemma said about the hug. \u201cStarting school during the pandemic, playing in the bubble, knee injuries, missing a whole year, and now here she is going out the way every kid that\u2019s ever picked up a basketball wishes their career could end \u2014 winning a national championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very emotional moment. I tried to get her to say \u2018I love you,\u2019 but it came out very, very, very grudgingly,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

Bueckers finished with 17 points in her final collegiate game and helped the Huskies earn a measure of revenge after they lost to South Carolina in the 2022 national championship game. Bueckers now awaits the WNBA draft in New York City on April 14, where she is the presumptive No. 1 overall pick.<\/p>\n

Just as the chapter on Bueckers has closed at UConn, another legendary career for the Huskies appears to be just getting started. Freshman Sarah Strong poured in 24 points in the win over South Carolina, tying her with teammate Azzi Fudd for the game high in scoring. Strong\u2019s 114 points in the NCAA Tournament were the most by a freshman in Division I history.<\/p>\n

Fudd has also announced that she is returning to UConn next season to use her final year of eligibility, meaning the Huskies will once again be stocked with talent for a run at back-to-back titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Scott Stump, TODAY
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legendary University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma has reached the pinnacle of college basketball for a record 12th time, but he\u2019s not ready to call it a career just yet. The 71-year-old Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer spoke about his future on Monday on “TODAY,” one day after his Huskies cut down the nets in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":843796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3563,22776],"tags":[7346,102516],"class_list":{"0":"post-843795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-coach","8":"category-uconn","9":"tag-coach","10":"tag-uconn"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}