UConn’s Geno Auriemma, the ultimate perfectionist, on the brink of history after starting ‘at nothing’
As a college student in the 1970s, Geno Auriemma didn’t think much, or at least too specifically, about what might become of hi professional life. Surely there was a logical path toward working with large groups of people in some capacity, tapping into his unique way of getting a point across to others, but that general understanding is about as far as it went.
Auriemma had no designs on coaching or fame, on records or riches. He looked at the future simply as something that would work itself out, mostly because that’s what his family’s history and parents’ approach had shown him.
“Maybe coming over here from Italy with my mom, when we were so young and there was so much uncertainty,” Auriemma said Wednesday, explaining his own constitution and retracing some formative life steps. “What’s going to happen when we get there?
How are we going to manage this?”
Auriemma’s parents never learned to read or write but mastered equally important life skills, ones having to do with protecting people and perfecting a craft.
They raised a family in Norristown, Pa., father Donato a pieceworker making cinder blocks, mother Marsiella holding a variety of odd jobs, immigrants with divergent views on American life — and a son, young Geno, with an immediate appreciation for getting things done and, over time, an obsession with getting them done exactly right.
Auriemma is in his 40th season as UConn women’s basketball coach.
One victory away from tying the recently-retired Tara VanDerveer for the most victories in the history of the sport, men’s or women’s. His career record is 1,115-162. His second-ranked Huskies play at North Carolina Friday and host Fairleigh Dickson next Wednesday at Gampel Pavilion.
“I would say the longevity of it, how many iterations of leagues and all the changes that have happened in those four decades,” Auriemma said when asked what he’s most proud of. “And we’ve been able to adapt and be successful in all of them. And maybe the fact that we started at ground zero, at nothing.
We didn’t have advantages of location, didn’t have advantages of reputation of the school, didn’t have the luxury of the big time league that could elevate us. We didn’t have the luxury of facilities. We started at the absolute ground level. It’s evolved into this.”
The evolution isn’t so dissimilar from Auriemma’s own upbringing. He was just 8 years old when he arrived in America. His family had what it needed, and that’s about it. His mother, who embraced all aspects of American life, encouraged his coaching pursuit.
His father, whose heart and mind never left Italy, never quite understood it.
He understood work and responsibilities. Auriemma borrowed money from his sister to get married years ago. He rarely looked too far down the road, certainly never envisioned driving a black Range Rover to work every day.
Auriemma started at UConn on a salary of about $30,000 in 1985. Today he makes more than 100 times that, over $3 million a year. He never thought about halls of fame or records until he was entering them or breaking them.
Upon taking over the UConn program, he thought only about winning every day and figured he’d last four years, just long enough to push the program into mediocrity, before moving on.
