See post #28, Calhoun and Hurley were absolutely the best coaches out there UConn could get and they honed in on them and got them. They didn't focus in on alums, they hired the best coach out there in both cases. I know way less about women's basketball but my guess is Geno was the best coach out there at the time and they didn't focus in on hiring from within.
UConn didn’t care about women’s basketball back then. I interviewed Chris Gedney, UConn’s first scholarship player, and she said the coach at the time didn’t care about the team and didn’t even try to make it better. The players staged a revolt to force the coach out. Due to Title 9 scholarship requirements, UConn needed the women’s team and reluctantly fired the coach , Wanda somebody
In replacing the coach, UConn hired an assistant from University of Virginia that applied for the job , Geno, who had never been a head coach and whose intention was to use the job as a stepping stone to a men’s coaching position. He must be a great interview because he was hired. But it turns out he was pretty good at coaching women and the rest is history
UConn didn’t pursue who they thought was the best candidate, they got lucky.
On edit: After Wanda Flora left, Jean Balthazar was coach, then Geno. If you read my article linked below, once you get past Chris’s admirable bio, she talks about Geno and the team
Once upon a time, there were no crowds of 10,000, no television coverage or horde of reporters. Once upon a time, there weren't even any scholarship p
connecticut.rivals.com