Geno Auriemma understands that the expectations set on a player can make or break them as a person. Especially the way the game is seen by the individual’s parents can make the whole experience of playing one of the best things in the person’s life or one of the worst.
It is indeed almost a universal trope. The father of a kid, playing any number of sports, puts unnecessary expectations on his child.
In a touching story, which Geno Auriemma shared in 2018, it seems the UConn coach encountered the exact opposite. He told the interviewer about an instance in which one of his players told him her father didn’t even care about basketball. He said:
“I had a kid one time, who’s a great player for us, and I remember saying, ‘Hey, your father drives five hours to come up and watch you every game.’ She goes ‘Yeah.’… ‘So what does he think about how we play?’… ‘I don’t know, we don’t talk about basketball’… I said, ‘Get out of here.’ She says, ‘No, my father and I never talk about the game because that’s not what he’s coming here up to see. Whether we are going to win or lose.Or if I’m going to score 30 or 10. He just comes out to watch his daughter.’ I said, ‘Man oh man, they ought to clone that guy.'”
Q: Why don’t kids like the car ride home?
Geno Auriemma:
(Full interview here: https://t.co/0zyMCWnXAZ ) pic.twitter.com/9Ex4Hp6Ao0
— What Drives Winning (@WDWconvo) January 10, 2018
Auriemma added that he has also seen the exact opposite behavior, with players who are constantly checking the board to see how they’re faring because they know that if they don’t perform, they will be yelled at. He said he has seen parents who don’t care about the overall performance of the team, but only if their kid is the star.
He also said that, sadly, this kind of attitude seems to start at an early age, and players tend to disconnect and lose interest in the game.
“That starts at an early age, and after a while, kids don’t wanna hear it anymore,” he added.
Why didn’t Geno Auriemma recruit Caitlin Clark?
It’s no secret that Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies are one of the best, if not the best, destinations in women’s college basketball. Hence, some fans are puzzled by the fact that the program didn’t recruit Caitlin Clark.
Speaking with the CT Insider a year ago, Auriemma gave a simple explanation, saying:
“Well, there’s a lot of kids we didn’t recruit and there’s a lot of kids who don’t want to go to UConn. I committed to Paige Bueckers very, very early, and it would have been silly for me to say to Paige, ‘Hey listen, we’re going to put you in the backcourt and then I’m going to try really hard to recruit Caitlin Clark.’ I don’t do it that way.”
It’s a well-known fact that Geno Auriemma is loyal to his players. It seems this starts early on and that he’s loyal to recruits also. In the end, everything worked out fine. Paige Bueckers was a standout for the Huskies and eventually led them to a national title, so nothing to regret on either side.
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