RockyMTblue2
Don't Look Up!
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 22,395
- Reaction Score
- 99,199
“Don’t get me wrong. I was pissed then, I’m pissed now and I’ll be pissed forever at what happened. But if somebody wants to do something that benefits a good cause, let’s do it. If it was going to be ‘Let’s just play because CBS or ESPN or somebody really wants you to do this,’ I could give a spit. When it was something that can help a lot of people, let’s do it.”
“I did feel like there has got to be some sort of acknowledgment. I think you and I both know that’s probably never going to happen. No one’s going to admit to that. If the Hall of Fame hadn’t gotten involved, with the level of respect I have for them, and how the game’s going to handled, I decided it’s worth doing. The idea of anything more, I didn’t think that ever was going to happen.”
The respect he has shown for Pat Summitt’s life does not change.
Neither does his anger over the aspersions unfairly thrown at his competitive character.
"Mostly it was the Hall of Fame wanting to do something,” Auriemma said. “It had been batted around for a few years. You could never find the right balance of where, when and all that."
"Has Auriemma had a change of heart about the relevance of the series? With Summitt’s death in 2016 after a brave battle with Alzheimer’s disease, had he decided that any sort of acknowledgment from Tennessee, let alone an apology, is no longer needed?
“A lot of things were said, an awful lot of insinuations,” Auriemma said. “People have dissected it over and over. We moved on, gone our separate ways. There was no interest in my part in beating down the doors and saying ‘We have to have to have this game.’ I couldn’t care less whether we have the game or not.
Jeff Jacobs: Geno says Tennessee allegations still sting, but he’s glad series benefits good cause
“I did feel like there has got to be some sort of acknowledgment. I think you and I both know that’s probably never going to happen. No one’s going to admit to that. If the Hall of Fame hadn’t gotten involved, with the level of respect I have for them, and how the game’s going to handled, I decided it’s worth doing. The idea of anything more, I didn’t think that ever was going to happen.”
The respect he has shown for Pat Summitt’s life does not change.
Neither does his anger over the aspersions unfairly thrown at his competitive character.
"Mostly it was the Hall of Fame wanting to do something,” Auriemma said. “It had been batted around for a few years. You could never find the right balance of where, when and all that."
"Has Auriemma had a change of heart about the relevance of the series? With Summitt’s death in 2016 after a brave battle with Alzheimer’s disease, had he decided that any sort of acknowledgment from Tennessee, let alone an apology, is no longer needed?
“A lot of things were said, an awful lot of insinuations,” Auriemma said. “People have dissected it over and over. We moved on, gone our separate ways. There was no interest in my part in beating down the doors and saying ‘We have to have to have this game.’ I couldn’t care less whether we have the game or not.
Jeff Jacobs: Geno says Tennessee allegations still sting, but he’s glad series benefits good cause
Last edited: