STORRS, CT — UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma spoke to the media on May 4 for the first time since the Final Four, when the Huskies lost in the national semifinals to South Carolina.
Auriemma was infamously upset with both the officials and Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley in the game’s aftermath. The two Final Four coaches got into a shouting match on the sidelines after sharing a brief handshake. Auriemma said something to Staley and then the exchange got heated.
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“You do things on the spur of the moment sometimes, but they usually come from things that have been building up for some time,” Auriemma said to a group of a dozen reporters at the Werth Champions Center on UConn’s campus. “When I walked into the locker room afterward … you’re just shaking your head going, five more seconds, you couldn’t keep it in for five more seconds?
“I just feel like a dumbass for the way it played out. We are all human and we all do dumb s—.”
At the end of a 62-48 win for South Carolina on, Auriemma was upset about the officiating and what he believed was a slight from Staley involving a pregame handshake. The winner of 12 national titles, the coach was asked if he saw the many conversations in the media and on the internet after the postgame altercation.
“I didn’t see a lot of it, but (the fallout) is to be expected,” Auriemma said. “Maybe some of it was warranted and some of it was people lying in the weeds waiting for that for that moment.
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“It doesn’t matter what you’ve done for the game, it’s what you just did.”
What was Geno Auriemma upset about after UConn’s loss?
Postgame, Auriemma said he had felt disrespected pregame, after he said he waited at center court to shake hands with Staley.
“For 41 years I’ve been coaching, 25 Final Fours and before the game, the protocol is you meet at halfcourt,” Auriemma said. “Anybody ever see that before? Two coaches meet at halfcourt and shake hands. Correct? Ever see it? They announce it on the loud speaker. And I waited there for like three minutes. (shrugs) So it is what it is.”
“I said what I said, and obviously she didn’t like it,” he added.
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In an interview with Holly Rowe, Staley denied any disrespect, saying, “I have no idea, but I’m going to let you know this, I’m of integrity. I’m of integrity.”
“So if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did, I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game, I didn’t know, I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff’s hand, I don’t know what we came with after the game, but hey sometimes things get heated. We move on,” she said.
Did Auriemma apologize to South Carolina and Dawn Staley?
Auriemma released a statement on April 4, the day before the national championship, that said the following:
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“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina. It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut,” Auriemma said.”The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them,” he concluded.
Staley’s Gamecocks lost 79-51 to UCLA in the national championship game.
Auriemma issued a second apology following the tournament’s conclusion. The second statement came after he and Staley spoke to clear the air on April 7.
“This morning, Dawn Staley and I spoke about our interaction after the game last Friday. I apologized to Dawn, her staff and her team,” Auriemma wrote. “Those who know me know I have nothing but respect and admiration for the game and the coaches who coach it. Dawn and her team deserved to win, and they deserved better from me.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘I feel like a dumb—‘: UConn’s Geno Auriemma owns Final Four fallout
