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Auriemma said he shares his experiences with Walz when he can, and that they've spent a lot of time together at Big East meetings.
''I've tried to help him out a little bit. I told him, I said, 'You're so inexperienced, you don't even know how to get a technical. You say the wrong things,'' Auriemma said. ''I gave him a couple pointers on how to really get technicals. And he's taken me up on it, and pretty much every time we play them he gets one just to prove to me that he's a good learner.''
Auriemma smiles when he says Walz is ''the cockiest guy I ever met,'' almost as if he's trying to pull the curtain back on Walz's tendency to dress casually and relate to people with self-effacing humor.
Auriemma senses that Walz's competitive nature is as strong as it gets, scoffing at the suggestion that the Cardinals did as well as they did in the tournament because they're playing loose and taking chances as if they have nothing to lose.
''When you watch them play, they play to win,'' Auriemma said. ''They're not looking to just hang around and see if they happen to win the game. They're playing to win, and that's why they're so much fun to watch right now. And I've loved watching them play.''
If Auriemma respects Walz enough to say that, it might not be far-fetched to suggest the UConn coach doesn't really mind the fact that Walz doesn't wear a suit on game day. Whether he'd admit that is another matter.
When the subject turned back to Walz's comments about leaving Louisville for Auriemma's restaurant, the UConn coach responded, ''He doesn't dress well enough to work in the front room of my restaurant, so he'll be bussing dishes and taking out the trash in the back until he fixes his attitude.''
''I've tried to help him out a little bit. I told him, I said, 'You're so inexperienced, you don't even know how to get a technical. You say the wrong things,'' Auriemma said. ''I gave him a couple pointers on how to really get technicals. And he's taken me up on it, and pretty much every time we play them he gets one just to prove to me that he's a good learner.''
Auriemma smiles when he says Walz is ''the cockiest guy I ever met,'' almost as if he's trying to pull the curtain back on Walz's tendency to dress casually and relate to people with self-effacing humor.
Auriemma senses that Walz's competitive nature is as strong as it gets, scoffing at the suggestion that the Cardinals did as well as they did in the tournament because they're playing loose and taking chances as if they have nothing to lose.
''When you watch them play, they play to win,'' Auriemma said. ''They're not looking to just hang around and see if they happen to win the game. They're playing to win, and that's why they're so much fun to watch right now. And I've loved watching them play.''
If Auriemma respects Walz enough to say that, it might not be far-fetched to suggest the UConn coach doesn't really mind the fact that Walz doesn't wear a suit on game day. Whether he'd admit that is another matter.
When the subject turned back to Walz's comments about leaving Louisville for Auriemma's restaurant, the UConn coach responded, ''He doesn't dress well enough to work in the front room of my restaurant, so he'll be bussing dishes and taking out the trash in the back until he fixes his attitude.''
