Geno's 10 Defining Moments

[j66kicker]

...per Mechelle Voepel.

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-b...-auriemma-coaching-career-connecticut-huskies

BTW this article was the flagship article on ESPN.com's main page for a while this morning. Gone from main page now, but it is still the main article on the ESPNW page. Voepel's "Geno by the Numbers" article linked in Nan's news links today is also imbedded if you drill down one level.

 

[DobbsRover2]

That first one really makes you pause with the enormity of it. Where would Geno and UConn be without CD? How long would it have taken UConn to get to the top if she had so no to becoming the assistant way back, or even if she had left for an HC job after the 1991 FF?

All good stuff from Mechelle, though obviously the list could have been expanded to 20 without much trouble. And as a quibble, after scoring 12 points in the first half of the 2010 NC game, it "didn't get much better" in the second half????? Let's see, 12 vs. 41. Nope, not much difference there.

 

[JSB60]

The only quibble I have is with the last one, tying Pat Summit with 8 NCs. I'd substitute passing her with 9!

 

[DobbsRover2]

The only quibble I have is with the last one, tying Pat Summit with 8 NCs. I'd substitute passing her with 9!

Pretty sure Mechelle phrased it that way to avoid the load clamor from the UTenn roaming rabids who have given her a lot of hell in the past about Geno never being able to accomplish what PHS has done. At this point we're about 22 months past the equaling, and that fact might have slowly sunk in through the Vol craniums. Not sure that 10 months is enough for the news that Geno is on top to finally filter through.

 

[j66kicker]

Pretty sure Mechelle phrased it that way to avoid the load clamor from the UTenn roaming rabids who have given her a lot of hell in the past about Geno never being able to accomplish what PHS has done. At this point we're about 22 months past the equaling, and that fact might have slowly sunk in through the Vol craniums. Not sure that 10 months is enough for the news that Geno is on top to finally filter through.

I was thinking that too. I'm tiring of all the political correctness, and ready for a good old-fashioned SC beatbown

 

[CL82]

I guess if the list goes to 11, the next item is passing Summit but yeah it leaves the impression that Geno got to 8 and stopped.

This quote bothered me more:
"The Lady Vols also desperately wanted Moore, and various allegations about her recruitment further soured a UConn-Tennessee relationship that already had gone south. Tennessee and UConn haven't played since 2007."

It'd rather have seen something like:
"The Lady Vols also desperately wanted Moore, and after she commited to Connecticut, launched various allegations about her recruitment that further soured a UConn-Tennessee relationship that already had gone south. The allegations, which in retrospect seem trivial and petty were invested and dismissed by the NCAA, with the exception of a secondary violation for a UConn staffer calling ESPN to schedule a spot for Moore to attend a publically available to tour. Tennessee and UConn haven't played since 2007."

Either tell the whole story or don't mention it all.

But I admit that's nitpicking.

 

[VAUConnFan]

I would throw out #6 and replace it with signing Nykesha Sales which, IMO, was the most important recruit signing in the rich history of UConn WBB; Not to discount signing Lobo, Taurasi, and Moore, but getting Sales was huge.

Kerry Bascom has to, in some way, rank among Coach Auriemma's Top 10 moments whether it be his recruitment of her or his development of her talents.

Recruiting the class that would become the 2002 national champions was a defining moment.

I am trying very hard to think of a more important or similarly important long term assistant coach of a successful college sports program than Coach Dailey. Loyalty, respect, effectiveness. What more can one ask?

One might also think of how different things might have been had Coach Auriemma not been recommended for and eventually getting the assistant's position at Virginia.

Nice article.

 

[EricLA]

I guess if the list goes to 11, the next item is passing Summit but yeah it leaves the impression that Geno got to 8 and stopped.

This quote bothered me more:
"The Lady Vols also desperately wanted Moore, and various allegations about her recruitment further soured a UConn-Tennessee relationship that already had gone south. Tennessee and UConn haven't played since 2007."

It'd rather have seen something like:
"The Lady Vols also desperately wanted Moore, and after she commited to Connecticut, launched various allegations about her recruitment that further soured a UConn-Tennessee relationship that already had gone south. The allegations, which in retrospect seem trivial and petty were invested and dismissed by the NCAA, with the exception of a secondary violation for a UConn staffer calling ESPN to schedule a spot for Moore to attend a publicly available to tour. Tennessee and UConn haven't played since 2007."

Either tell the whole story or don't mention it all.

But I admit that's nitpicking.

I would give that 10 likes if I could...!

As for the rest of the 10 defining moments, can't argue with a single one of them, except I think you need to add signing Sales. There have been so many milestones that you could easily do a top 20 so you could include the 9 NC's as well as the other achievements for the program.

It's getting harder and harder to argue that UCONN ISN'T the greatest program in the history of the game. Geno has surpassed Pat in every conceivable category except total wins. In 2.5 years or so he should surpass 1,000 wins. In approx 6 years (my math may be off), he should be ready to pass Pat in all time wins, but I think a few other coaches will pass her before he does. Stringer and Vanderveer are both about 25-30 wins ahead of Geno and likely would surpass Pat first. The next 6 years will be interesting from that perspective!

 

[DobbsRover2]

I guess if the list goes to 11, the next item is passing Summit but yeah it leaves the impression that Geno got to 8 and stopped.

This quote bothered me more:
"The Lady Vols also desperately wanted Moore, and various allegations about her recruitment further soured a UConn-Tennessee relationship that already had gone south. Tennessee and UConn haven't played since 2007."

And as it turned out, all the allegations turned out to be true. It was alleged that UConn had a better program for developing talented players, that UConn was the place to play if you wanted to win a lot of NCs, and that Geno had become a better recruiter than PHS.

What I don't understand is why a top rival would report the allegations to the NCAA when they knew it would make them look bad.

 

[CL82]

And as it turned out, all the allegations turned out to be true. It was alleged that UConn had a better program for developing talented players, that UConn was the place to play if you wanted to win a lot of NCs, and that Geno had become a better recruiter than PHS.

What I don't understand is why a top rival would report the allegations to the NCAA when they knew it would make them look bad.

I get your point but the allegations still annoy me to this day. Sue and Diana giving a ride Maya? Who the heck cares...but wait they were playing in Russia at the time. Geez if you are going make something up at least make it meaningful. Diana offering a recruit a french fry as a violation...c'mon. But as stupid as the actual complaint was (which, as I never tire of pointing out, contained a print out of the Boneyard WBB board, thank god they never wandered over to the men's board ) they then went on a sustained smear campaign about our coach, our players, their families alleging that we were a dirty program. So dirty, that they wouldn't play us.

Now if they really believed that our program had committed serious offenses they would have added them to the laundry list of really silly allegations that went to the NCAA, so I have to believe they knew there were none and instead compiled that silly list as cover for a deliberate smear campaign. In the end, it backfired, impacting them far more that us but it was a pretty scuzzy thing to do.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[DobbsRover2]

The Vols scraped for everything in desperation, and really all it earned them was a vague cover for their decline in the following years as they pointed to something that Geno supposedly did as the reason for the badness to follow and smearing him in a way that would let them and certain Notre Dame fans (another thread for that) claim that Geno could never be better than PHS. And the screaming farcical part of it was then the Vol fans got so mixed up about allegations that they started making claims about Maya's grandmother that were beyond ludicrous.

But in a thread celebrating Geno's milestones, we should get back to the focus of all the great things that have come to UConn, and let mean people suck on their lemons.

 

[Suebird10fan]

I am trying very hard to think of a more important or similarly important long term assistant coach of a successful college sports program than Coach Dailey. Loyalty, respect, effectiveness. What more can one ask?.

Dean Smith/Bill Guthridge

 

[Woof 101]

Nothing negative here on this post as I know our society locks in on top 10 lists for many things. David Letterman has made a ton of ching with his top ten lists.
Just my opinion but Geno goes way beyond 10 defining moments that provide trophy case hardware. He has dozens of defining moments that are playing or now coaching for a living due to his tutelage. Yes he gets good recruits but his ability to get them to buy in and take it to the next level is uncanny.

 

[Husky1964]

One of the defining moments SHOULD be the recruitment of a future UC star and Assistant Coach from Terry Sanford H.S. in NORTH CAROLINA. Up until that year we had not gotten a sig. player OUT of our area, then defined as New England to DC and including Pennsylvania. The fact that Shea's mom and PS were friends and she had attended Tenn's summer camp made this a very important get.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Maybe not a top 10 moment, but beating ND in the semi-finals in 2013 was huge. It allowed us to turn the tide that had given us 7 losses in 8 games. It paved the way for the record-tying 8th title. And it established Stewie as a great winner. That last story is incomplete, but the possibility of 4 titles in 4 years is still alive for her and Moriah. And Morgan can do the unthinkable and better her recruiting class teammates. That trio can become legendary.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I was thinking that too. I'm tiring of all the political correctness, and ready for a good old-fashioned SC beatbown

You play Smith College this season?