Women's Fastbreak On SI

UConn's Geno Auriemma Was Unfazed By Record-Breaking 1,217th NCAA Win

Legendary UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma acted like he'd been there before after doing something nobody else ever has.

Grant Young

Nov 20, 2024; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; Connecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma waves to the crowd before a game between the Connecticut Huskies and the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images
Nov 20, 2024; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; Connecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma waves to the crowd before a game between the Connecticut Huskies and the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images / Mark Smith-Imagn Images

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team had a special night on Wednesday.

They faced Farleigh Dickinson University in a game that anybody could have predicted was going to be non-competitive. And that's exactly what happened, as the No. 2 ranked UConn throttled FDU by a score of 85-41.

However, this victory was more than merely the fourth win of UConn's 2024-25 campaign. It marked the 1,217th win of legendary coach Geno Auriemma's career, which passes former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer for the most wins in NCAA Division I basketball history.

It's hard to quantify just how much success Auriemma has had during his 40 seasons at UConn. But one great indicator is the fact that he had over 60 former players — including women's basketball icons like Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi, and Sue Bird — in attendance to give Auriemma his flowers.

And they certainly did so. But when UConn actually sealed their win and Auriemma secured the record, he acted as if nothing had happened at all.

SNY UConn posted an X video of Auriemma as Wednesday's game ended with the caption, "The moment as Geno Auriemma gets historic win 1,217".

It looks like he couldn't be bothered by this momentous achievement.

Of course, this isn't actually the case. Auriemma was just making sure that he showed the Farleigh Dickinson team and coaching staff their respect after the game, as he has done thousands of other times in his career.

But it's still funny to see that Auriemma remained all business after cementing himself as the NCAA's all-time winningest basketball coach.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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