GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Forty years ago, when coaches Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey took over at the University of Connecticut, it was an unsuccessful women's program in the middle of nowhere. In conference play alone, the team went 3-13 in the 1984-85 season, an improvement from its cumulative 1-15 record from the previous two campaigns.
"When we started coaching together, we didn't have anyone else that we could rely on to help us in the moment to build what we were trying to build, and we didn't even know what we were trying to build. We were just trying to not finish last, right? We were trying not to finish last in the Big East," Auriemma told media after a 69-58 win over No. 14 North Carolina Friday night. "We just wanted to finish somewhere between seven and five. Like, if we could do that, we thought that would be a huge win."
The victory gives Auriemma -- and, unofficially, associate head coach Chris Dailey -- 1,216 wins in NCAA Division I play and ties the UConn tandem with retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer for the most wins in college basketball. In the duo's first season together, they flirted with a .500 record at 12-15. The Huskies went 14-13 the following season, then 17-11, and 36 years later UConn has never dipped below a .600 winning percentage.
Over 40 years and counting, the Auriemma and Dailey resume is almost unbelievable -- 11 national titles, six undefeated seasons and a litany of star players. They have created an institution at UConn, yes, but also so much more. They've served as something of a disruptor for programs outside of Storrs, and in so doing they have been an integral force in moving the needle for all of women's basketball.
When asked to reflect on their place in the sport, Auriemma said, "C.D. and I are exceptionally proud that we had a hand in that, and wherever we went ... we tried to help grow the game. We never turned down an opportunity to go play anybody, anywhere. You see the results of that today. We played here in the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and we beat Rutgers to go to the Final Four. There weren't 10,000 people in the stands."
Fast forward to 2024, and 10,467 fans showed up for a non-conference women's basketball game on a Friday night in November in Greensboro, an hour away from Chapel Hill and the UNC campus.
"So, a lot's changed, and we're proud of our part of it," Auriemma added.
Indeed, a lot has changed. Women's basketball at the college and professional level has exploded in the last several years, even despite UConn not securing a title in last seven seasons.
"When he was first winning all his championships, it was just kind of a two-horse race," North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said after the game. "I told him that he better take pride in that it's no longer a two-horse race ... there are a lot of teams that can win a national championship now, she added. "He's been a huge part of that."
When asked about Banghart's comments, Auriemma took a gander at her deeper meaning.
"I think Courtney was also referring to back in the day, when it was all about UConn-Tennessee, UConn-Tennessee, UConn-Tennessee," he said, "to the point where an awful lot of people around the country, they didn't like either of us, and they would hope anybody could win a championship except UConn or Tennessee."
After a while, Auriemma said, the animosity became curiosity. Coaches, athletic director's and university presidents were asked why they weren't doing what Connecticut had been doing. For Auriemma the answer was simple.
"They didn't want to -- because they certainly had way more resources that we did. So I think over a period of time, we made it so they had to do it because it just meant too much to everybody. And the players demanded it.
"Players coming out of high school demanded it. You know, college kids playing in college demanded it. There was a path to the WNBA, so that demanded it," Auriemma added. "Look at today. It's not about UConn-Tennessee. It's about all these teams that have won national championships since the last time UConn and Tennessee won a national championship. That never happened before."
Five different programs have won a national championship since UConn last cut down the nets in 2016 -- which completed a four-peat by the way. There has not been a back-to-back champion since, however, the Gamecocks have been the last team standing in three of the last seven seasons. Many see South Carolina's Dawn Staley as the next great coach in women's basketball. But will she stick around the coaching ranks long enough to dethrone UConn's 11 championships, or Auriemma and Dailey's win total?
Speaking of, the Huskies' next game comes at home Wednesday, and history would suggest win that No. 1,217 will come that night against unranked Fairleigh Dickinson University. And the tally is unlikely to end there. So what happens next? Who takes the crown from Auriemma?
"It's hard to be married that long," Banghart, a self-proclaimed Auriemma fan, said without hesitation. "I'm telling you, I'm not coaching for 40 years ... I think it's hard enough to find someone ... one person who's dumb enough to do this for 40 years, and then to find two?"
Jokes aside, Banghart and others know that UConn's duo works because they have established their roles and supported each other's growth over the years. A marriage -- coaching or otherwise -- demands it. In Auriemma and Dailey's case, they created a vision from nothing and stayed the course, decade after decade after decade after decade. The record cannot belong to Auriemma without Dailey, who, as she often reminds people, has an even better winning percentage than he given that on the 17 times she needed to drop the "associate" label, UConn has never lost.
"They are the perfect head coach and associate head coach / assistant coach," said WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and UConn alumna Napheesa Collier. "His big picture, the way that he sees the game, the way that he's able to get the best out of his players, is so unmatched.
"And then with C.D., like, her attention to detail, she has helped to shape me into the person I am both on and off the court. So just their combination together, I think, was just a magic formula to creating great players," she said. "So I'm really honored to have been able to play for them, and I can't wait for the record to be broken."
Collier and other UConn alumni, family, friends and fans will have a chance to celebrate the dynamic duo throughout the season, including with an official celebration that's planned for Wednesday when the Huskies host FDU at Gampel Pavilion and then again on Dec. 21 when No. 2 Connecticut hosts No. 3 USC at Hartford's XL Center.
Although there is much fanfare following the 40th season of Auriemma and Dailey, he believes his team is and will remain focused on their game.
"These particular players, they're not really here for the record," he said. "They came here for their own goals, for their own aspirations, for what they want. So I've tried to keep the focus on, how do I make them better able to go get what they want. And if, in the meantime, you know, this stuff happens, that's great."
However, his most recent generational talent tells it differently.
"He's breaking records left and right and it's the reason why you came to play under him," guard Paige Bueckers said after Friday's win. "What he's built here at UConn, the history, the players, the success, the national championships -- it means everything to play for UConn, and to play for him."
And to think, Auriemma's coaching career started because he was doing a favor for a friend that turned into a hobby. Forty years later and he is one victory away from being the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history.
"I don't think anybody goes into anything thinking that they're going to spend 40 years of their life at one place doing the exact same thing," he said Friday night. "The best way I can describe it, you know, it just caught up to me."
And the game is better for it.
