Addressing a group of reporters for the first time since the Final Four, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma said that he feels “dumb” for his heated exchange with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley after UConn’s national semifinal loss.
“When I walked into the locker room afterward with the coaches, you are just shaking your head, thinking, ‘Five more seconds, you couldn’t keep it in for five more seconds,’” Auriemma said Monday in an interview with reporters at UConn’s training facility. “You just feel dumb for the way that it played out. We are all human, and we all do dumb (stuff).”
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The moment came in the final seconds of South Carolina’s 62-48 win over the Huskies, when Auriemma confronted Staley along the sideline, later saying he was complaining that she didn’t shake his hand during pregame introductions. Assistant coaches and referees separated the two coaches, and Auriemma left without shaking Staley’s hand postgame. Auriemma also complained about foul calls and implied that South Carolina had ripped Sarah Strong’s jersey, while video replays showed Strong ripping her own jersey in frustration.
Staley later said, “If I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did.” Auriemma apologized for his behavior the following morning, saying his reaction was “uncalled for.”
Auriemma has been here before. The UConn coach, who has run the program for four decades and led the Huskies to 12 national championships, recalled sparking controversy in 1998, when he devised a plan to allow an injured Nykesha Sales to score an uncontested layup to break UConn’s all-time scoring record.
“Immediately, it was the worst thing to happen to the game of basketball,” Auriemma told reporters Monday. “To sports in general.”
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As for April’s fallout?
“Maybe some of it was warranted, and some of it was people lying in the weeds, waiting for that moment,” Auriemma said.
Auriemma and Staley spoke in the days after South Carolina lost the national championship game to UCLA. Both coaches said they wanted to put the incident behind them, and Auriemma reiterated that outlook Monday.
“I did what I did,” he said. “I apologized for it and moved on.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
South Carolina Gamecocks, Connecticut Huskies, Women’s College Basketball
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