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UConn’s Geno Auriemma Makes Division I Basketball History After Nearly Four Decades
UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma made Division I history on Wednesday night as he captured his 1,200th win of his career.
Auriemma becomes the third college basketball coach, men’s or women’s, to reach this milestone. He now sits behind Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer (1,206 wins) and Duke’s former coach Mike Krzyzewski (1,202 wins). The UConn coach is the only one to secure all 1,200 wins with one program.
Auriemma hit the milestone the quickest out of these three coaches, as he did so in his 39th season. VanDerveer reached 1,200 wins earlier this season in her 45th year of coaching, while Krzyzewski hit this many wins in his 46th season.
Just the third to 1,200 wins and he did it the fastest.
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) February 8, 2024
There’s only one Geno Auriemma 🐐 pic.twitter.com/32wuvjZbVF
Auriemma reminisced about his career thus far at UConn, saying how he began coaching the team back when hardly anyone was in attendance. Now thousands of fans go to watch the Huskies.
“We helped make something happen that never existed and no one ever thought it could happen,” Auriemma said after the game. “I'm pretty proud of that.”
"We helped make something happen that never existed and no one ever thought it could happen"
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) February 8, 2024
Geno Auriemma talks with @ChelseaSherrod after his 1,200th career win: pic.twitter.com/AAXEhyPZv7
UConn’s star forward Aaliyah Edwards praised her coach after the game.
“Every win is a credit to how great he loves the game,” Edwards said. “Passionate about the game, but passionate about watching women win.”
"Every win is a credit to how great he loves the game - passionate about the game, but passionate about watching women win."
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) February 8, 2024
Aaliyah Edwards with @ChelseaSherrod on Geno Auriemma's 1,200th career win: pic.twitter.com/zh5IcqgqbB
Auriemma will continue adding to his winning record as he hasn’t made any plans to retire as of now.
Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.