Geno Auriemma has reached another milestone, capturing his 900th win at a clip faster than anyone in college basketball history, when the UConn women beat Cincinnati last night. By 60 points. NBD.
The win came in Geno’s 1,034th game, giving him an all-time record of 900-134. That’s just crazy pants. And the 60-year-old coach has no plans to slow down. In typical Geno form, he said after the game that he isn’t going to stop doing what he does.
“I don’t want to stop setting the bar, and it’s up to everybody else to try to get there,” he told ESPN. “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and we’re not going to stop.”
It’s completely feasible that by the end of the 2017-2018 season, Geno will have racked up 1,000 wins. He’s coming for you, Pat Summitt.
Summitt, Geno’s original arch rival, finished her career with a record of 1,098-208, good for a winning percentage of .841. Geno’s percentage is .870, the best in the history of women’s basketball. In case you were wondering, Muffet McGraw’s record stands at 765-260 (.746). Suck it, Muffet.
This is all especially impressive when you consider that UConn women’s basketball was a non-entity when Geno got to Storrs. He was 12-15 in his first season, 14-13 in his second season and 17-11 in his third.
Since the 1994-95 perfect season featuring perfect human Rebecca Lobo, Geno has only lost 53 games. In 20 years. Take that, haters.
And we would be remiss if we didn’t give a shout out to Geno’s right-hand woman, the honorable and long-suffering badass Chris Dailey. CD has kept Geno from getting thrown out of more games than we can count, and has been by his side – or shoving a clipboard into his chest – for all 900 of these wins. Kudos to you, CD. Legit don’t know how you do it.
While each win seems a little (and in some cases, a lot) less impressive than some of the wins in Geno’s past, especially given the Husky chow that is AAC women’s basketball, the magnitude of this accomplishment cannot be overstated. Geno came to UConn with zero head coaching experience, and, really, not a whole lot of coaching experience, period. That he has been able to create from nothing the greatest program in women’s basketball – and maybe all of college basketball – in the frozen farmland of Storrs, Connecticut is nothing short of incredible.
So congratulations, Geno (and CD)! This is an epic accomplishment, and we look forward to celebrating win number 1,000. And your next National Championship. All of the National Championships.
