UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma once gave his take on the NIL era of college basketball with regard to his peers. In March 2023, when he and the Huskies were chasing their 12th national title in program history, Auriemma appeared as a guest on Boomer Esiason’s “Gametime” show on YouTube.
Coach Auriemma was asked about his thoughts on the current era of NIL and how, if at all, it has served to be a driving factor for his tenured peers, such as Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and Villanova Wildcats men’s basketball tactician Jay Wright, to head into retirement. Coach Auriemma said it could be a combination of NIL and awareness that their time is over.
“I think it was a little bit of both. I think there’s certainly a different challenge now than there’s ever been. You play for some coaches who are notorious about controlling as much as they can, and then when you’re hit with a bunch of stuff that you can’t control, you have to make a decision: ‘Is this something that I can live with?'” Auriemma explained (3:05).
“I think a lot of us older coaches that have been around the game for a long, long time, yeah you all have to adapt and you all have to change, but some of the things that are happening right now, as much as everybody wants to say it’s great for the athletes and all that, it’s really not in so many ways for 95% of all the athletes in America. But certainly for the coaches, it’s enough to give you a pause, and I think if you’ve had a lot of success in your career and you’re not chasing anything, you can say it’s time. And, I think that’s what happened,” he added.
Auriemma is coming off a successful 2024-25 season with his Huskies. They finished the campaign with an overall record of 37-3 (18-0 Big East) and won their 12th straight Big East conference regular-season championship and 12th consecutive conference tournament title.
Geno Auriemma has won his 12th national championship in the NIL era of college basketball
Before 2025, Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies had not won the national championship in nine years, with their last win coming in 2016.
Now, they are riding on the success of their 2025 NCAA title run. They defeated the 2024 national champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks, in the 2025 national championship game by 23 points, 82-59, to win their 12th title.
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