Geno Auriemma on his ninth title, his legacy and what's next for UConn
Auriemma: I did meet him one time. I got my picture taken with him and I told him that. He just smiled. I think he probably hears that a lot.
Auriemma: I think it is difficult to truly answer that. I was having a discussion recently with someone about how do you truly measure the best player in history. In baseball, which had the biggest impact from the steroid era, it's pure numbers. Nobody talks about how many championship Pete Rose or Cy Young won. It's how many games did you win, how many home runs did you hit, how many RBIs did you have, how many Gold Gloves do you own. Yet in basketball and football, you are judged on championships. Nobody knows how many touchdown passes Joe Montana threw. They just know how many Super Bowls he won. Nobody knows how many points or rebounds Bill Russell, they just know he won 11 titles. Basketball is defined by championships and I think when you are a player, you impact that championship. If you are a player and have X number of titles, that is directly attributed to you and your teammates. So when you are a coach that is a difficult one to answer because every coach thinks they are the best coach. Every coach who coaches great players thinks their players are the best ever. So those are questions best left answered by someone else.
Auriemma: I don't think longterm. I don't have a 10-year plan or five-year plan. I have said that if I could coach Stefanie Dolson or Bria Hartley or Breanna Stewart or those types of kids -- the group that I have now for the most part -- if I was guaranteed that I would those kind of kids, then I could coach indefinitely.