Roy Exum: Geno: Our ‘Me’ Culture

  • Saturday, March 25, 2017
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

By almost every measure, Geno Auriemma is the best basketball coach in America. His University of Connecticut women are riding a record 109-game winning streak that dates to Nov. 17, 2016. Stanford barely beat them in overtime 3 years ago, but, before that, they won 41 straight. That means UConn is 153-1 and, in the current 109 streak, they have double-figure wins over the opponents in all but three games. UConn has never, ever, lost an ACC conference game.

Today Auriemma’s ladies, 34-0 this year, play fourth-seeded UCLA (25-8) at 1:30 p.m. in their march towards a fifth straight NCAA crown. The bookies in Las Vegas say there is a 75 percent chance UConn will win No. 110, extending what is already an NCAA record for the longest winning streak in the sport of basketball ever.

On Monday of this week, a friend put a video tape of an Auriemma press conference on his Facebook page that showed Geno answering a question that every coach, priest, platoon leader and, most importantly, a parent should read. As of today, the video has gone viral and has been seen by over 50 million people. This is the exact transcript taken from a press conference of a question asked of UConn coach Geno Auriemma on April 3, 2016, and his answer following the Huskies' win over Oregon in the Final Four semifinals:

* * *

THE SPORTS REPORTER ASKED:

Q. “I know everybody in the media has been grappling with the question, the secret behind your consistent excellence and dominance of the game, and I don't know if we're any closer to understanding that than we've ever been. But I'd like to ask you about what I think is one piece of that, and that's the enthusiasm I consistently see on your bench. Your kids that are not in the game are up cheering every time a shot goes in, or a 3-pointer, as if they've never seen a bucket or 3 before. Is that the way they come to you, you recruit them that way? Is that something you demand of them, or is that an ethos passed on by your upperclassmen?”

* * *

“IF YOUR BODY LANGUAGE IS BAD, YOU’LL NEVER GET IN THE GAME … AND THEY ARE ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT THEMSELVES. ME, ME, ME, ME. I DIDN’T SCORE SO WHY SHOULD I BE HAPPY?’

COACH AURIEMMA: “I don't want to sound like an old guy. I don't want to sound like an old guy who's been coaching a long time. So it's going to come across like that, I'm sure. But recruiting enthusiastic kids is harder than it's ever been. Because every kid watches TV and they watch the NBA or they watch Major League Baseball or whatever sport they watch, WNBA, doesn't matter, and what they see is people just being really cool.

“So they think that's how they're going to act. And they haven't even figured out which foot to use as a pivot foot and they're going to act like they're really good players. You see it all the time. See it at every AAU tournament, every high school game.

“So recruiting kids that are really upbeat and loving life and love the game and have this tremendous appreciation for when their teammates do something well, that's hard. It's really hard.

“So on our team, we, me, my coaching staff, we put a huge premium on body language. And if your body language is bad, you will never get in the game. Ever. I don't care how good you are. If somebody says, well, you just benched Stewy for 35 minutes in the Memphis game a couple of years ago. Yeah, I did. That was to motivate her for the South Carolina game the following Monday? No, it wasn't. Stewy was acting like a 12-year-old. So I put her on the bench and said, ‘Sit there!’

“It doesn't matter on our team. The other coaches might say you can do that because you've got three other All-Americans. I get that, I understand that. But I'd rather lose than watch kids play the way some kids play. I'd rather lose. And they're allowed to get away with just whatever and they're always thinking about themselves.

“Me, me, me, me. I didn't score, so why should I be happy? I'm not getting enough minutes, why should I be happy? That's the world we live in today, unfortunately. And kids check the scoreboard sometimes because they're going to get yelled at by their parents if they don't score enough points. Don't get me started.

“So when I look at my team, they know this. When I watch game film, I'm checking what's going on -- on the bench. If somebody is asleep over there, if somebody doesn't care, if somebody's not engaged in the game, they will never get in the game. Ever.

“And they know that. They know I'm not kidding. We only have 30-some games. If you're lucky, what's this, 30 what -- 37. 37 games. You can't get up for every one of those games? You can't be excited for every one of those games? And you're on scholarship?

“Now, you're playing on the best team in the country and you're going to mope, seriously? That's the way we handle it. Now, they might be faking it, I don't care, but they're not moping, there's nobody moping.”

* * *

Nobody mopes. Everyone is excited (even if you have to fake it), and now you know how UConn beats the daylights out of any other college team in the country. They’re in the thick of it for their fifth straight national championship. 109 wins in a row is unprecedented in college sports.

Believe it or not, parents can do this at home.

* * *

FOR THE RECORD: John Wooden, the great UCLA coach, won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period (1964--1975) as head coach at UCLA, including a record seven in a row. He started coaching at UCLA in 1948 and had a 620-147 record. The Bruins' longest unbeaten streak was 88 straight games. Wooden won a total of 11 national champions, which Auriemma tied last year.

* * *

COACH-OF-THE-YEAR AGAIN – Auriemma was just announced as the national coach of the year title for the second consecutive time -- that’s seven in all (2017, 2016, 2009, 2008, 2002, 2000, 1997). In 32 years, he has paced the Huskies to 11 national championship crowns, 17 Women’s Final Four appearances, 45 conference titles and six perfect seasons.

royexum@aol.com

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