Geno Auriemma solidified his legacy as one of the best basketball coaches of all-time on Tuesday night with his 1,000th career win in an 88-64 victory over Oklahoma.
Geno Auriemma reaches 1,000th win as UConn blows out Oklahoma
Auriemma further solidifies his legacy as one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time.
Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images for USOC
Auriemma started his coaching career 32 years ago at UConn and hasn’t looked back. He’s one of the most accomplished coaches in not only women’s college basketball, but sports period. Along with his 1,000 wins, Auriemma’s teams have won 11 NCAA championships, been to 18 Final Fours, won 23 regular-season conference titles and 22 conference tournaments, and have had six(!) perfect seasons.
Though his wins are impressive, his legacy goes beyond that. He’s helped mold legendary players like Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, and so many others.
“It’s kind of completely impossible to fathom and it won’t hit me for about ten years,” Auriemma’s daughter Alysa told SB Nation of her father’s record.
Only five other NCAA basketball coaches can lay claim to having won 1,000 games. Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer, and Sylvia Hatchell have accomplished the feat as women’s coaches while Mike Kryzewski has accomplished it as a men’s coach. Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim has also won 1,000 games, although 101 have been vacated.
Although this is a big win for Auriemma, he didn’t achieve this alone. Assistant coach Chris Dailey has been there for every single one of those wins. In an interview with the Washington Post, Auriemma said as much.
”We’ve seen the program grow together and we’ve each had a hand in it. She’s as much responsible as I am, for all this.”
Could he become the all-time wins leader?
He certainly could. Right now he’s third all-time with 1,000 wins after tonight’s game. VanDerveer sits at second behind Summit with 1,017 wins, but she’s still coaching today, so it isn’t likely that Auriemma will catch her anytime soon.
Summit’s record of 1,098 wins over 38 seasons remains in first and will for a few more seasons at least. It’ll take a while before Auriemma is able to reach the the late coaching legend’s record.
Still, even if Auriemma were to retire today, he’d have a better winning percentage than both of them. Currently, he’s won 88.1 percent of the games he’s coached. That’s a record that will be hard to break.
We need to appreciate what Auriemma has been able to do as a head coach at one school. We only see this every so often, but it’s so incredible to watch.
UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell also won her 1000th game on the same day as Auriemma.
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