UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma once detailed the hardest lesson he learned as the main tactician of his program. This was one of the many things that Auriemma talked about when he was interviewed on the “Got Next with Meghan & Zora” show in November 2024.
Auriemma was asked by host Meghan McKeown how he had grown over the four decades of service in college basketball. Auriemma shared the most vital lesson he learned in his coaching career.
“I used to think that I would be able to control more scenarios. I’d be like, ‘I need you to be this for me, and I’ll make you into that. I need you to be this for me.’ I realized over a period of time how little control you actually do have, and that a lot of it is just doing the best you can and crossing your fingers,” Auriemma said (0:30).
Auriemma enters his 41st year at the helm of the Huskies’ coaching staff in the upcoming 2025-26 season.
He and his UConn squad are gunning for their 13th national championship. They won their 12th in the recently concluded campaign. The now 71-year-old is also the winningest college basketball coach of all time, both men’s and women’s, with 1250 wins to his name.
Also Read: “I Keep Making the Same Mistake”: When Geno Auriemma Reflected on Recruiting Missteps and UConn’s Culture
Geno Auriemma says basketball is not his life
Later on the “Got Next with Meghan & Zora” episode, Geno Auriemma said basketball is not his whole life. Auriemma expounded on this by explaining how his success came with a bit of luck, and that it does not define who he truly is as a person outside of coaching.
“The other thing is putting less into the idea that basketball defines who you are. When you grow up with the game and then you get into it, and you’re doing it for so long, if you’re not careful, you start to think that as long as we keep winning basketball games and as long as I keep doing this, then this is who I am. I came to realize, luckily, that it has nothing to do with who I am. That’s just what I do for a living. It’s not my life,” he shared (0:55).
Auriemma and the Huskies are coming off a 2024-25 season where they finished with a 37-3 overall record (18-0 Big East) and won the conference regular season championship as well as the conference tournament title.
Read More: “Can’t Draw Up That Story”: When Geno Auriemma Celebrated UConn’s Legacy Through Players’ Journeys After His 1,217th Victory
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