Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma Aren’t Threatened by Each Other. They Just Want to Win.

PHOENIX — Dawn Staley is not here for Geno Auriemma’s rant, or his apology, or whatever we might ask her about either one. She is also not here to “beat Geno’s ass,” even if she said that in a heated moment at the end of South Carolina’s victory over Connecticut on Friday. Staley has North Philly blood but South Carolina priorities. She has players who are good enough to win a national title, and she owes it to them to help them do it. If there is one person in the world who understands this, it is Geno Auriemma.

Auriemma apologized for his outburst, as he should have. He said, “there’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game,” that it was “uncalled for,” and that “the story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don't want my actions to detract from that.” Auriemma did not mention Staley by name, but he did apologize to the South Carolina staff and team.

Staley can feel however she feels; if she is still pissed that Auriemma criticized how she talks to referees, that is her right. My view, as an uninvolved observer, is that Auriemma acted like an ass, but he owned it and apologized for it. There’s no excuse. That’s good enough for me. I don’t understand why so many people feel the need to parse and then reject apologies.

The subtext, of course, is that Staley and South Carolina are one win away from their fourth NCAA championship since 2017. In that time, UConn has won one.

Dawn Staley — Staley and the Gamecocks will play for their fourth national championship in the last decade on Sunday. | Jordan Naholowaa Murph/Sports Illustrated

South Carolina is the premier program of the past decade. I think that is indisputable. But if you view either coach through that narrow lens, you diminish them both—and if you think Auriemma reacted the way he did because he feels threatened by Staley, you misunderstand him. The man is not that insecure.

Staley has built what Auriemma has built and what Pat Summitt built before that: A program that goes into every season believing it can grind its way to a national championship. This isn’t arrogance, no matter what people think of UConn, and it is certainly never entitlement.

Coaching is about getting people to achieve as much as they possibly can. With the quality of players that UConn and South Carolina now attract, that means, at minimum, making it to the Final Four.

If Staley just wanted to beat Geno’s ass, last year’s loss in the title game would keep her up at night. But it doesn’t. She knew going in that UConn had the better team and that the Gamecocks’ path to victory was narrow. But Staley says she is still “haunted” by the 2023 Final Four loss to Iowa. Staley had the best team in the country that year, but the Hawkeyes were better that day.

Since 2007, Auriemma is 17–1 in Elite Eight games, yet he still says that is the hardest game to win. In the Final Four, even UConn will face at least one team that is just about as good or better. But in the Elite Eight, UConn should win.

Staley turns 56 next month. If her team beats UCLA and Auriemma never makes another Final Four, Staley would still need to coach in 17 more Final Fours and win eight more national titles just to tie him. That is not happening. They both know that. It does not consume either of them.

If Staley really cared so intensely about her place in history, she would point out that she also had the best team in the country in 2020, but the tournament was canceled because of COVID-19. That argument does not interest her.

The Gamecocks and Huskies take incredible pride in pushing each other to be the best version of themselves. That is their culture. Winning is a byproduct of it.

In September 2024, Auriemma showed me a shirt in his office with the Boston Celtics’ new slogan: It’s different here. He loved it and said he was going to steal it. (The slogan, I mean. I don’t think he lifted the shirt.)

“And you know what?” he said. “It doesn’t connotate, ‘It’s better here, it’s special here, we’re better than you are, we’re preordained to be better than you are.’ None of that. Because I believe—hey, we haven’t won a national championship since 2016, so that means nine other teams have. So there’s lots of ways that you can win, and there’s lots of great places out there to win.”

Geno Auriemma Final Four — Auriemma and the Huskies have won one national title in the last 10 years. | Jordan Naholowaa Murph/Sports Illustrated

It was actually seven teams, but never mind that. He brought that up on his own, to make the point: If you go to UConn, you might not win the national title … but you will do everything that goes into winning a national title.

Auriemma can speak for himself. But I think what bothered him Friday was not that Staley might win a national title. It was that he had a group of extremely nice, respectful, hard-working players who were capable of winning a national title but didn’t, and he felt responsible.

Auriemma said the Gamecocks were beating his team up, and that he would get ejected if he got on the refs like Staley did. But I think he was really questioning himself. Maybe he didn’t toughen this team up like he thought he did. The Huskies were winning by so much and they got along so well and he loved them. Then they showed up in a national semifinal and did not play like past UConn teams played, and the other team did play like past UConn teams played, and it bothered him. Rather than realize it in real-time and process it, he lashed out at Staley.

It’s better theater if Staley and Auriemma despise each other, but it is better for the sport if they don’t. Women’s basketball needs powerful advocates who work together. As UCLA coach Cori Close said Saturday, “Emotions are really high. I know them to be really good people.” Dawn Staley can win her fourth national title Sunday, and Geno Auriemma has won 12, but I don’t think either of them gave a damn about that Friday night. UConn and South Carolina are built upon how, not on how much.

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