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Three Ways Geno Auriemma’s Complaints About Dawn Staley, UConn’s Loss Did Not Age Well

Geno Auriemma’s meltdown after the game was not a good look. Here’s all the ways it aged poorly.
Tom Dierberger|
Auriemma coached in his 25th career Final Four on Friday night.
Auriemma coached in his 25th career Final Four on Friday night. | Sarah Stier/Getty Images

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UConn HuskiesSouth Carolina Gamecocks

Geno Auriemma did not have his best night Friday in Phoenix.

In the closing seconds of UConn’s 62–48 loss to South Carolina in the national semifinals, Auriemma had some heated words for Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley. The two coaches had to be separated and held back by assistants after the exchange. Auriemma walked into the Huskies’ locker room before the final buzzer officially sounded, and Staley shook hands with UConn assistants before celebrating her team’s third straight appearance in the national championship game.

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Auriemma didn’t help himself much after the game, either. He complained about Staley snubbing him of a handshake and bemoaned that officials would have ejected him if he spoke to them like South Carolina’s coach apparently did.

In every way, it was not a good look for the 72-year-old head coach. And the points that he did make did not age well:

Dawn Staley did actually shake Geno Auriemma’s hand pregame ... once

Auriemma’s loudest (and most talked about) grievance after the game was that Staley didn’t shake his hand before the game.

However, ESPN cameras captured a pregame handshake between the two coaches during warmups. Staley went over to the UConn side and shook the hands of Auriemma and his staff at some point leading up to tipoff.

Ben Solomon of Getty Images also captured a couple of photographs of the handshake:

Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley
Auriemma and Staley did shake hands once before the Final Four game tipped off. | Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

So, yes, the two coaches shook hands before the game. When he was informed that there were photos and videos of the two coaches shaking hands, Auriemma deflected the question.

Although to be fair to UConn’s head coach, that wasn’t the handshake snub that he was referencing.

Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg was in Phoenix on Friday night and noted this about the scenes pregame:

Auriemma said afterward that Staley never shook his hand before the game. I watched this in real time: The P.A. announcer introduced the coaches, Auriemma went over to shake Staley’s hand, and Staley never left her team. Auriemma waited there. He looked at a card he was holding. He waited a bit more.

I don’t know when Staley walked over and shook his hand. She might have shaken it earlier, but if so, she should have done it again when the announcer introduced the coaches. Auriemma was waiting there for a reason. I have no dog in that fight, but I was also wondering why Staley did not walk over. It was weird enough that it registered with me as weird, and I could tell at the time that Auriemma was irritated.

ROSENBERG: South Carolina Forced UConn, Geno Auriemma Into the Worst Version of Themselves

An ESPN camera at half court did catch Auriemma waiting for Staley to shake his hand following pregame introductions, but Staley remained on the Gamecocks’ bench talking to her players.

Geno Auriemma
Auriemma waited at half court to shake Dawn Staley’s hand before the game. | ESPN

“The protocol is before the game you meet at half court. Anybody ever see that before?” Auriemma said after the game. “Two coaches meet at half court and they shake hands. They announce it on the loudspeaker. And I waited there for three minutes. So it is what it is.”

Still, Staley did shake his hand at some point before the game, even if it wasn’t after introductions as Auriemma would have preferred.

Even if Staley should’ve shaken his hand at that exact moment, Auriemma’s complaint is still ridiculous. He’s one of the most decorated coaches in college basketball history who just worked the sidelines in his 25th career Final Four appearance. His behavior in the closing seconds of the game and the postgame press conference came off like a sore loser instead of a Hall of Famer who has been there many times before.

South Carolina did not rip Sarah Strong’s jersey. She did it herself.

UConn trailed South Carolina 44–39 entering the fourth quarter. It was still anyone’s game. But in an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe on the television broadcast after the third quarter, Auriemma expressed his displeasure with the officiating, using Sarah Strong’s ripped jersey as an example of a missed call.

“There were six fouls called that quarter, all of them against us, and they’ve been beating the s--- out of our guys down there the entire game,” Auriemma said. “And I’m not making excuses because we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous. Their coach rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referee some names you don’t want to hear. Now we have Sarah Strong down there with a ripped jersey and they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ Come on, man, this is for the national championship.”

Yes, there were six fouls in the third quarter—all called on UConn. That is a fact. But Strong actually ripped her own jersey after missing a shot and had to switch to jersey No. 55 heading into the fourth.

Strong admitted this after the game. “It was an accident. I missed my shot, ripped it by accident.”

Whoops.

Geno Auriemma said he wouldn’t make this matchup about his rivalry with Dawn Staley

Well, he did.

As pointed out by Sports Illustrated’s Emma Baccellieri, who was in Phoenix for the Final Four matchup, Auriemma vowed to not make the national semifinal about himself and Staley during a chat with the media on Thursday.

“I’ve been through this many times with other coaches,” Auriemma said. “And I never want it to be Geno and Dawn, Geno and this, Geno and that … I’ve tried really, really hard over the years to not make it about that ever again.”

BACCELLIERI: Geno Auriemma Made It All About Himself and That’s a Real Shame

He didn’t try hard enough Friday night.

Coaches have always been, and will continue to be, the face of college basketball. While rosters change year over year, especially now in the NIL era, legendary coaches like Auriemma and Staley are the faces of their respective programs and the game itself.

Coaching rivalries are good for college basketball. But if he intended to keep the focus on the players, Auriemma failed.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is the Deputy News Director at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor’s in communication from St. John’s University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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