Episode 623 | Geno Auriemma | The Dynasty: UConn Huskies

[00:00:00] It's raining blue for Connecticut! Title number 12! I miss UConn, but I don't wish to go back. I just questioned, did I even want to be there anymore? What did we talk about, Paige? He doesn't treat them like girls, more like soldiers at a boot camp. It is worth it. All of it. You understand the meaning of mental toughness? When you're so results-driven, you can suck the joy out of the journey.

[00:00:27] Winning a national championship is like a drug, and you desperately want another one. But then, when you lose... Mississippi's ending the streak! People rejoice in your misery. Women's basketball was all about Pat Summitt and Tennessee. That's what fueled Coach. He was always pissed. What the hell was that?! And now put your f***ing hand up! Dog, you need to chill out. It has to be us against him. You won't survive if you don't figure that out. And we needed to figure it out fast. I was relentless.

[00:00:56] But come game day, man... Are UConn's dominant days over? Down and in pain? Oh no! How do I give everything I have left? If it was easy, everybody would be undefeated, number one. Sometimes. I love you. Fate taps you on the shoulder and says, this is your time. Are you ready for it or not?

[00:01:31] Darek Thomas, director's cut. Uh, Coach, how are you? Good afternoon. How are you? Good. Uh, Coach, I am starting my 30th year as a teacher this year. Um, I've coached for 20 years and I can tell you in my teaching job, the parents have been amazing. At the end of the 20 years as a coach, um, things were ugly. Uh, it was awful. I was left exhausted. Um, parents, I almost felt like were clueless when it came to ability. Do you see that kind of stuff? I mean, this is varsity sports, but do you see that stuff at your level?

[00:02:01] And when you speak to other people in groups, what do you tell parents? What do you tell? What do you tell other coaches? That's a common, um, uh, common message that comes from.

[00:02:16] Um, former teachers, former coaches, um, lamenting the, the loss of support from, uh, from parents. Uh, the intrusion from parents, the delusional view that they have of their kids and their, uh, athletic abilities.

[00:02:47] Um, it's always someone's fault when their kid doesn't get what they think they deserve. Someone has to be blamed for it. So you get all that. Uh, and, and at the high school level, it's right to your face. It's right. They confront you with it. Uh, some horror stories that I've heard. And seen on the college level.

[00:03:14] I'm sure that maybe happens every once in a while. It's more subtle at the college level where they'll sabotage you to, to your players. Where, you know, you'll be talking to their players, coaching your players. They'll go home or they'll be on the phone like they always are. And they'll get something completely different from home. Or, you know, their, their father, their mother, their uncle, their cousin. Somebody has a better idea than you do about what you'd be going on.

[00:03:44] And I try to tell them all the time. It's not helping your kid. It's making your kid worse. So if you're trying to help them navigate this, you're going about it the absolute wrong way. Yeah. Right. Because once you put doubt in a kid's mind, now that kid, that kid abdicates all responsibility. Like my mom said, my dad said, my uncle said, coach doesn't know anything about anything.

[00:04:12] If I had a different coach, I'd be playing more. Yeah. Well, I don't know how. I don't know that somebody goes and gets their, go get their car done and says, I'm a better mechanic than you are. I don't know if somebody goes to the hospital and says, Hey, I'm, I'm operating on your son. Well, you know what? If you, if you operate this way, it'll be better for him.

[00:04:38] Like, but everybody in sports thinks they're a better coach than the actual person coaching. Yeah. That is so well said. Speaking of the, of the doc, which I loved. I want to say that, you know, when Larry Bird went to Indiana, Bobby Knight said, you know, I wasn't in tune to his needs. I didn't, I didn't realize what he wanted. One of the more pivotal scenes with is with Rebecca Lobo. And in which, you know, she comes into your office looking for advice. How do I get to this goal? I'm paraphrasing.

[00:05:07] And two days later practice, she messes up and, you know, you kind of land to her. She has the effing nerve to do this. She's a foundation of your program and where you guys have been. Were you, was there, was there ever a, a tendency to say, maybe I shouldn't go this far. Cause you are a master of, of your craft, but this is a, a foundational piece for you. Were you ever worried that she was going to say, you know what? I'm done. I'm out of here. Were you ever worried about that coach? No, no.

[00:05:37] So, uh, probably for two reasons. Um, one, I had such a great relationship with her that intellectually, she's probably one of the brightest, most articulate, quickest minds that I've ever coached.

[00:06:03] Um, and on one, on one level, she probably ran, you know, that dumb ass doesn't even know what he said. I'm pissed that he said it, but I know he didn't mean it that way. And he's an ass because that's how Rebecca would do. Uh, I, I do look back though.

[00:06:25] When I see these clips and I think to myself, wow, that's a great way to motivate a kid. You know, that's like the worst, like what's wrong with you? Like you actually thought that all of a sudden that kid's going to be a better player. I, I, I never worried about her leaving or anybody else leaving.

[00:06:51] Because I've heard stories of kids coming to my office and me talking to them. About whatever. And they leave. And my, my teammates, my, my players would tell me after the fact long after. Yo, remember when you talked to so-and-so and she came out and came back to the locker room or whatever. And I go, yeah, well, we, she came back and we say, what'd he say? What'd he say?

[00:07:21] And she goes, ah, fuck him. You know, like one of those things, you know, like, so it's a part of my, I don't know. I don't, I don't know if it ever worked or not, but. I kept telling the players on the court. Now I kept telling those kids, I said, listen, I'm going to try to be your worst enemy.

[00:07:44] I'm going to try to be the opposing team, the officials, the fans, the ball won't go in. Nothing is going right. I'm going to create that in practice. And you're going to have to figure out a way to beat me. Cause if you do, then no matter what happens in a game, we got this cover. Yeah. That's an awesome answer. One of the more compelling scenes coach in this is a pit with you and page.

[00:08:14] You know, page Beckers is just one of the best players. And people are going to talk about this scene. I believe I always thought your rapport was like, just, just kind of goofy. You know, she's slapping on the ass. She's just goofy kind of kid. But I have to say it's when you embrace and because it's such an emotional journey. When you embrace it, she says, you say, tell each other, I love you. How much of that is you, not that you just won the championship. I get that.

[00:08:41] But you realizing she finally embraced that leadership role and went that extra mile, something you've been pushing for her to do forever. And a journey that was mentally exhausting for her, for you, I'm sure for her physically, those injuries, but how much of the, I love you was almost like a daughter. Like, you know, Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. That's exactly what it felt like.

[00:09:05] It felt like, you know, and anybody that has kids, you know, there's a, there's always a push, pull, give and take, love, hate relationship. A lot of time with your kids as they're growing up, they love you when you, when you do what they want you to do, they love you when you say what they want you to say. They love you when they, you give them what, what they want.

[00:09:35] And when they don't get what they want or that things go, don't go their way. They have an attitude about it. Sometimes with page, it was like that. There were serious moments between her and I during the course of those five years, there were light moments. There were no moments where I just, I don't want to deal with her. And in her life, I don't want to deal with him either.

[00:10:03] Again, same things that would happen when you're raising kids and their teenagers, you know, the exact same things, but when it ended and she got exactly what she wanted and no one, I said,

[00:10:24] that was like a Shawshank redemption national championship for, for page because when, when that guy had to swim through that tunnel to get out, who else would do that? But a guy so desperate to get out. She wanted that so bad and she got it. And I just think it, the, the damn burst open, man.

[00:10:53] It was the emotion just came out. Coach, I'll end with this. Um, some of the more emotional scenes are with Pat summit. Is there something that you could, if you could change about your rapport that you wish you had done earlier? Um, is that ever a thought of yours? Is there something you wish you said to her? Cause I feel like you guys had the utmost respect for each other. And that was so great. It brought back so many memories for me just to watch it. Is there something you said to her? Maybe something you wish you did differently when it came to your rapport, your relationship with her?

[00:11:22] Uh, you know, it's interesting because, um, we, we had conversations after, after she stepped away from coaching, uh, we, we actually spent some time talking whenever I would see her, I would make a point to go search her out.

[00:11:50] Um, you know, it played out the way it played out because maybe that's the way it was supposed to, to create what became must watch women's basketball back when no one watched women's basketball, but everybody had to watch that game. You know, you walk into a bar in December, the only time they're going to have a women's

[00:12:18] basketball game on is when we're playing Tennessee on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of football playoffs or the end or towards the end of the season. And then, you know, it, it played out that way. And I wish it would have lasted longer because I think as it would have gone on, I think it would have become even more of a relationship because in the beginning it was a great relationship.

[00:12:47] And then the narrative became Gino versus Pat instead of Tennessee versus Connecticut. And I wish we could have extended it, you know, but you know, her health won't let her another 10 years. Cause then the two of us would sit down and go, how about this nonsense we got to deal with, with these kids and this crazy portal and this crazy college atmosphere that we're working in.

[00:13:15] And we would have, we would have figured out a way to fix it. Yeah. Coach, you're a legend. Thank you for this time. And I really enjoyed the doc and you're an absolute icon. Thank you for this. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.