Former Seattle Storm star and UConn Huskies product Sue Bird once shared how coach Geno Auriemma motivated players through his speeches, regardless of the situation. During an episode of Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s “Thanalysis” show on YouTube in Oct. 2024, Antetokounmpo asked Bird about her favorite Auriemma story.
Bird said she had a lot of stories about Auriemma, given that he was her college basketball coach the entire time and also in Team USA basketball competitions internationally. Keeping the theme on brand with their conversation about international competitions, Bird shared her favorite Team USA speech by Auriemma.
“We played Australia in an exhibition game and they killed us. But it was during All-Star Weekend, and if anyone has been doing All-Star Weekend, they know you’re usually going out, having a good time. It’s a celebration, not a lot of sleep, you know,” she said (13:45).
Bird added that a couple of months later, Australia and the USA were set to clash in the World Cup. In his pregame speech, Auriemma reminded his players of the thrashing that the Aussies handed them during the All-Star Weekend. However, Bird added that the now-73-year-old turned the narrative upside down to motivate everyone.
“And then he sums it up and goes, ‘But, they didn’t know you were all hungover! So, let’s go kill them,’ and we were like, ‘Yeah! They didn’t know.’ We were like, ‘Where is he going with this?,’ and all of a sudden, he drops that bomb, and we were like, ‘Alright, let’s go.’ He always had a way of bringing something up, then bringing it back around where it really motivated you,” she concluded (14:36).
Bird retired from professional basketball in 2022 after 20 years of playing for the Storm. She amassed four WNBA titles and five All-WNBA First Team selections, to go with playing in the WNBA All-Star Game 13 times. Bird was drafted with the first overall pick in the first round of the 2002 WNBA Draft.
Sue Bird and Geno Auriemma won multiple NCAA titles and Olympic gold medals together
Sue Bird is hailed by many as one of the best players to come from the UConn Huskies program, and a big factor of that stems from the fact that she won two national championships, in the year 2000 and 2002, under the tutelage of Geno Auriemma.
Their player-coach relationship continued as they won two Olympic gold medals together, in 2012 and 2016, while representing Team USA women’s basketball.
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