UConn's Geno Auriemma Named Coach of the Year Finalist
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UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma has been named a finalist for the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year, the team announced on March 25.
Should Auriemma win, it would be his ninth time winning the award in his 41 seasons at UConn. He is pitted against Cori Close of UCLA, Shea Ralph of Vanderbilt and Vic Schaefer of Texas for the award.
Auriemma has led the Huskies to a perfect 36-0 record this season and will face North Carolina in the Sweet 16 on March 27. It will be the Huskies' 32nd consecutive Sweet 16.
Auriemma also led UConn to the Big East regular season championship, his 32nd, and the Big East Tournament Championship, his 31st title.
The teams of the other three coaches contending for the award all have at least one loss this season.
Under Auriemma, the Huskies are 1,286-165 and are on a 52-game win streak, which is the fifth longest in NCAA history.
Winning the national championship this year would result in the win streak growing ot 56 games, which would surpass Louisiana Tech for the fourth-longest winning streak. The top three longest winning streaks are all owned by Auriemma and UConn. The record is 111 wins from 2014-17.
the best of the best 🐐
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 25, 2026
Geno Auriemma is a finalist for the 2026 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year! pic.twitter.com/Cv5lHu8h7x
Auriemma Still at the Top
Auriemma may not have won the Naismith Women's Coach of the Year award since 2017, but that could change this year.
UConn won its 12th national championship in 2025, and it looks like that could be the case again in 2026. The Huskies have already outscored their NCAA tournament opponents — UTSA and Syracuse — 188-97 and haven't shown any signs of slowing down.
In fact, this year's team even surpassed Auriemma's expectations in the 98-45 dominant win over Syracuse.
“I thought they’d be nervous… this is their first time, there’s no Paige (Bueckers),” Auriemma said. “They’re being asked to do a bunch of different things, and I was really happy, and really surprised.”
Auriemma, in his infinite wisdom, also helped star guard Azzi Fudd overcome her shooting cold spell against the Orange. His solution: have Fudd trim her fingernails.
“I did, I trimmed them. I had a nail file yesterday before practice, and I guess he was right. I had to trim my nails,” Fudd said after the win.
Fudd went from shooting 1-for-5 from three and 3-for-9 from the field against UTSA to making a whopping 8-of-11 three and 13-of-18 field goals against the Orange, resulting in Fudd tying her career-high of 34 points.
