Geno Auriemma Compares Historic UConn Win to O.J. Simpson Chase
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Thirty years and twelve national titles later, Geno Auriemma still remembers the first one like it happened yesterday. The 1995 championship win put the UConn Huskies women’s basketball program on the map. And in true Auriemma style, when asked to describe that moment, he reached for one of the most unforgettable events of the ‘90s.
“Like I said, when we got back and we were going down I-91 on our bus and helicopters were following us, you're all too young to remember this, but Jamal was getting a kick out of it. We were like, ‘We’re O.J. (Simpson),’ you know? They’re chasing us down the highway with helicopters,” said Auriemma.
Auriemma compares it to the Simpson chase because he joined UConn in 1985. However, his first NCAA title didn't come around until 1995. For a program that had barely scraped together one winning season before his arrival, the wait was tiring. That first title run, led by Rebecca Lobo and Jennifer Rizzotti, was the beginning of something much larger than a single banner. UConn went from underfunded afterthought to basketball royalty.
Since then, Auriemma has led the Huskies to twelve national championships, six undefeated seasons, and an .883 winning percentage. He has also molded players like Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart into WNBA legends. Still, despite it all, for Auriemma, that first one stands apart.
“So you think back to 30 years ago and to today… Yeah. Yeah. Yeah," Auriemma said. "I think back to those days, and my only thought then was: I need to hide. I don’t want anybody to see me. I don’t want to see anybody. I don’t want to talk to anybody. I don’t want to be a part of this. It was overwhelming, too much for us to handle as a program. Now I walk around the street, and people say, 'Hey, there’s the guy that coaches UConn.' Oh, nice."
That’s the kind of quiet fame that only comes from decades of doing something historic so many times it becomes routine. However, how does that first win compare to the 2025 NCAA title that the Huskies won?
After the 12th Championship, Geno Auriemma Feels Like an “Innocent Bystander”
If 1995 was chaos, 2025 was calm. When UConn captured its 12th national championship this spring, ending a nine-year drought, it was supposed to be a return to the top. Instead, Auriemma felt something unexpected: a sense of distance.
“Quite honestly, it feels a little bit more detached, like I’m either consciously or subconsciously separated from it all," Auriemma said. "I’m almost looking at it from the outside as opposed to being on the inside and experiencing it. From the final buzzer on, I’ve kind of just been at the parade, watching everything happen in front of me and getting a kick out of the reactions from all the people and the players. So yeah, truly, this one has felt way, way different than all the rest. For those reasons specifically, I’m just an innocent bystander.”
It’s a striking contrast from the man who once hid from the spotlight after his first title. The Huskies took down the defending champion South Carolina in an 82–59 rout, reclaiming the crown that once seemed permanently theirs.
However, Auriemma didn’t rush the court. He just let it all unfold. Maybe that’s what 40 seasons does to a coach. Back in ’95, UConn’s success felt like an invasion, helicopters and all. Now it feels more like history repeating itself, gracefully, inevitably.
Auriemma no longer has to prove that UConn belongs; he’s the architect of a legacy that will live on.
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.