POLL: what Geno milestone is most impressive to you?

[jcoton56]

I voted other. What spell did he cast on Lobo to get her to even consider UConn? When I think back to what the school and campus were like, the facilities, and just the relevance of Ct Women's hoops, that made much of what followed possible.

 

[geneticrex]

The bottom line is championships.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I voted other for the winning percentage. It is particularly impressive because he didn't rack it up in a poor conference - heck, when the BE was poor, he had some of his least successful seasons. But he has the highest winning percentage ever against some very solid competition.

In a way, it is another nod to sustained excellence.

 

[chrissaran]

It's not just the nine championships, but the fact that they have never lost in the most important game of the year, and you add in the 4-0 mark against the Vols, is what is most impressive. The other dominant program never defeated UConn in the championship game.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Other.
I think it would be keeping two women happy simultaneously for over 20 years.
Seriously, who else could you think of that did this.

I think Geno kept both Pat and Muffet ( and maybe CViv) happy for about that amount of time, as they were just thrilled with his teams' many successes and just really glad for him and happy to show it in so many ways.

 

[Vowelguy]

Surprised so many are saying the winning percentage. How many have Leon Barmore as the 2nd greatest coach? Would also note that there are coaches who don't get a lot of respect around here but have great winning percentages (hatchell).

 

[Tonyc]

I voted OTHER. All of the above and then some. Geno has so many records for the team and so many records for players in Olympics, WNBA, OverSeas etc etc. His accomplishments are second to none and when he finally retires his records will show he is the best coach in all sports. His ability to recruit, teach, train, and develop his kids and set a standard of excellence as well as how he mentally prepares his players to play as a team and mode those individual talents into one overwhelming machine is one for the record books. He should become a teacher and coach for coaches to model themselves after. He is one of a kind with an attitude second to none. He has set the bar so high you couldn't catch it if you stood on the moon. One quality is he continues to make every record breaking team better the following season. Simply Amazing.

 

[bballnut90]

Surprised so many are saying the winning percentage. How many have Leon Barmore as the 2nd greatest coach? Would also note that there are coaches who don't get a lot of respect around here but have great winning percentages (hatchell).

Obviously Pat and Geno are the top 2 coaches in NCAA women's college basketball history, but I'd probably vote Barmore #3. To me, the mark of a great coach is one who can sustain excellence. Even good modern day coaches like Mulkey, McGraw and Vanderveer have had stretches of seasons where they weren't in the national picture. In Barmore's 20 years, he won a national title, played in 5 title games, 9 Final Fours, 15 Elite 8s and 16 Final Fours.

And Hatchell's winning percentage is around 73-74%, which is very good, but anywhere close to Geno/Pat/Leon.

That said, I think the combination of NCAA tournament success and winning percentage shows the ability to be successful at the highest level of competition, which to me, is most impressive. But, if we're only choosing 1, it's the 9-0 in title games.

 

[FairView]

I voted for the 9 national championships, but I considered voting "other." As one of the follicly challenged, I am very impressed by the amazingly thick and full head of hair he has at age 60.

 

[johnnyc]

I voted for the 9 (and still counting) championships but I kinda like the 4 - 0 that Geno/UConn beat Pat Summit/Tenn in National Championship games.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I agree re 9-0 in championship games. That is Woodenesque. I also love the stat about lack of consecutive losses for nearly 22 years. No one else has come close. But I voted for the streaks. As much as UConn players stay in the moment, it is human nature to have occasional bad days. We'll see on February 9 and hopefully April 7 how good this year's team is. I have a hunch that it is really, really, really good. But we had a hiccup at Stanford. Maya and Tina didn't have one. Diana et al. didn't have one. Those streaks carry a lot of pressure with them. Though the 9 championships are very impressive, 5 perfect seasons are even more so.

 

[stick]

It's kind of crazy with all his accomplishments that 6 straight Final Fours(2008- ) and counting and winning 4 out of 5 titles (2000-2004) is almost an afterthought.

 

[cferraro04]

I voted for 9 (other) because I think his greatest accomplishment was to get Rebecca Lobo to commit to UConn. That single event started the ball rolling in my opinion.... Without landing the big recruit and then building the team around her...he doesn't get that first championship and the rest of his fantastic accomplishments don't happen.

 

[JellyBean]

1. 9 NCs
2. Turning around a nothing program to Big East Chanps in 4 years and going to a Final 4 in 6. Not sure that will ever happen again.
3. The winning streaks, just because it requires great discipline to never have an off night.

This list right here, especially #2. Taking over a program that wasn't on the map and turning it into power house.