Geno Auriemma Admits Self Doubt Amid UConn NCAA Championship Drought

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team won its 12th NCAA championship on April 6, all of which have come while legendary head coach Geno Auriemma is at the program's helm.

However, before Sunday's win over South Carolina, UConn hadn't produced a national championship since 2016 after winning 10 NCAA titles between 2000 and 2016. And during his April 7 appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Auriemma revealed how this title drought (per UConn's standards) weighed on him mentally.

When Patrick asked whether he ever doubted himself during those nine seasons when UConn hadn't won a championship, Auriemma said, "Yeah. Yeah, of course."

He later added, "Being brutally honest, there was so many times where I would go home and I would say 'I don't think I'm as good a coach as I used to be. I don't think I'm as able to do what these players need in today's world. I don't know that I can do that.' Which is crazy, because we were going to the Final Four every year."

"It really, really, really made me question 'Am I still the right person to be doing this at this time in my career, at a place like UConn, where a championship is the standard?'" Auriemma continued.

"There were so many times when I would go home and I would say, 'I don't think I'm as good a coach as I used to be.'"

– Geno Auriemma, fresh off his 12th National Championship, opens up about self-doubt and shares his thoughts about a potential retirement. pic.twitter.com/AQfvOwA1lk
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 7, 2025

Just about everybody deals with self-doubt and Imposter syndrome from time to time. But given Auriemma's unprecedented track record of success, it's surprising to hear how often he questioned whether he still had what it took to lead his Huskies squad to another national title.

But he surely now knows that those past concerns weren't well-founded.

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