USBWA to name Coach of the Year award after UConn women’s basketball legend Geno Auriemma
UConn women’s basketball legend Geno Auriemma has won the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year award six times, more than any other coach in the sport’s history. Whenever he concludes his iconic career, the award will fittingly be named in his honor.
Auriemma is one of just four women’s coaches to win the USBWA award multiple times. South Carolina’s Dawn Staley is closing in on Auriemma’s total after winning for the fourth time in five years in 2024, while LSU’s Kim Mulkey and former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw have three apiece. Tara VanDerveer, who announced her retirement after 38 years at Stanford on April 9, won twice including the inaugural award in 1990. The Women’s Coach of the Year award is currently the only unnamed award presented by the USBWA.
In 39 seasons at the helm of UConn, Auriemma has led the Huskies to 11 NCAA championships, six undefeated seasons, and 23 Final Four appearances including 14 straight from 2008-22. All are records across both men’s and women’s college basketball, and Auriemma is also poised to become the winningest coach in the sport’s history next season. VanDerveer broke the previous record held by Duke men’s legend Mike Krzyzewski on Jan. 21 and retired with 1,216 wins. Auriemma will enter 2024-25 three games behind her at 1,213.
Auriemma, who turned 70 in March, put together arguably the best coaching job of his career in 2023-24, leading the Huskies back to the Final Four despite entering the tournament as a 3-seed for the first time since 2005. UConn spent most of the season with just six to seven players in rotation because of five season-ending injuries on the roster, including former No. 1 recruit Azzi Fudd’s ACL tear after she appeared in just two games.
Still, the Huskies went undefeated in the Big East and upset No. 1-seed USC in the Elite Eight to reach the Final Four. UConn ended on a heartbreaking 71-69 loss to No. 1-seed Iowa in the national semifinal, and the Huskies held superstar guard Caitlin Clark to a season-low 21 points.
“Few would have suspected back in his Philly days – or on the day he signed his first contract to coach UConn, given its place in the sport at that moment – that Geno would become the most successful of them all, breaking records that are unlikely to be surpassed,” said USBWA vice president Mel Greenberg in a release. “It is fitting and proper that his name be associated annually with the USBWA Division I Women’s Coach of the Year.”
Auriemma will be back, at the very least, for the 2024-25 season with superstar Paige Bueckers returning for a fifth year at UConn. His current contract expires in 2026, but the 70-year-old Huskies coach is in negotiations for a new deal that could extend him through 2029.