‘Things just kind of pile up’
UConn is just second DI program to reach 1,300 wins
UNCASVILLE — Before Geno Auriemma became the women’s basketball coach at the University of Connecticut in May 1985, the Huskies had lost 160 games and won 92 as a varsity-sponsored sport over 11 seasons.
In the 39 seasons since his arrival, the Huskies have lost 161 games. But they have won 1,208 games. Then there’s the 11 national championships, 22 NCAA regional crowns, 30 conference regular-season titles, and the 28 conference tournament triumphs.
Top-seeded UConn attempted to add a 29th conference tournament title Monday night when it faced No. 6 Georgetown in the Big East Tournament final at Mohegan Sun Arena. But it was its 58-29 victory over Marquette Sunday that allowed it to reach a milestone as it became the second Division I program to reach the 1,300-win plateau.
“Thirteen hundred wins? I didn’t know they had played that many games before I got here,” Auriemma said. “That’s great.
Great, great, great.
“Things just kind of pile up. After a while you just kind of get into a routine where all the players you get are thinking championship. They’re thinking, ‘Win the Big East championship. Win the national championship.’ So you’re getting players that winning is not a surprise to them. It’s not a hope. It’s the reality that they have come here to live. I’ve been lucky to be a part of all of them for the last 40 years.”
Tennessee, which is in its 70th season, tops the wins list with 1,470 but had only 93 before Pat Summitt became coach in 1974. Since Auriemma became coach, the Huskies have won 34 more games than the Lady Vols and they also lead the series with them 17-9.
According to sources, UConn is in talks with Tennessee to renew the teams’ long-heated rivalry as early as next season. The series is expected to begin as a homeand-home with the Huskies playing in Knoxville next season and the Lady Vols making a trip to Connecticut in 2025-26.
UConn is tops in winning percentage for programs that have been Division I for at least 25 years at .802 (1,300-321). Tennessee is second at .793 (1,470-384).
Stanford is No. 3 on the wins list (1,238) followed by James Madison (1,225), and Texas (1,211). Rounding out the Top 10 are Louisiana Tech (1,206), Stephen F. Austin (1,202), Old Dominion (1,163), Maryland (1,125), and South Dakota State (1,122).
UConn’s first coach was Sandra Hamm, who went 2-8 in her one season of 197475. Wanda Flora coached the next five seasons and compiled a record of 38-64. She was followed by Jean Balthaser, who had a 52-88 mark in five seasons including the only winning record (16-14 in 1980-81).
Auriemma, who came to UConn after spending four seasons as an assistant to Debbie Ryan at Virginia, had his only losing season in his first year (12-15). The Huskies finished 14-13 the next season. But then Auriemma brought in Kerry Bascom from Epping, N.H., and Laura Lishness from Bristol and followed the next year with a seven-player class including five from Pennsylvania — Debbie Baer, Wendy Davis, Meghan Pattyson, Shannon Saunders, and Stacey Wetzel — and things took off.
The Huskies won their first Big East regular season and tournament titles in 1989 when they made their first NCAA Tournament appearance. They reached their first Final Four in 1991 and won their first national championship in 1995. Starting in 1993-94, they’ve won either a conference regularseason title, a conference tournament crown, or a national championship in each of 31 straight seasons. In all 31 seasons they’ve won at least 25 games with 26 30win seasons.
“Getting Laura and Kerry obviously was a big factor in changing the culture here because you’re getting players who are very, very talented and very capable of winning in the Big East,” Auriemma said. “But it really was the two of them plus the seven players that came in, all those Pennsylvania kids that came in. I think there was a huge change in the culture that year. We went from fifth place or wherever it was we finished to winning the regular season and winning the tournament.
“All those freshmen played huge roles for us. Really it was a revelation to us that if we get the right people in here and coach them the right way, we’re going to be really successful. Now it’s just our job to go out and get better players. We just kept doing that over and over and over again.”
Auriemma’s 1,208 wins are second all-time to Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer (1,215). his winning percentage is .882 compared to VanDerveer’s .818.
UConn will be playing in a conference tournament championship game for the 20th straight year and 34th time in 36 seasons Monday night. The Huskies are 28-5 in finals with the losses to Providence (1990), MiamiFlorida (1992), Villanova (2003), Rutgers (2007), and Notre Dame (2013). It was the first time they play Georgetown for a championship.