Confessions Of A Diehard Huskies Fan: Geno Has Earned The Right To Be Geno
— -- Confession time: As a Hartford native, I've been a diehard UConn basketball fan for my entire existence. It wasn't a choice. It was passed on like old hand-me-downs from my dad. My earliest heartbreak in life was watching Christian Laettner's buzzer-beater carry Duke over the Huskies during the Elite 8 in 1990.
When Tennessee defeated UConn in the Final Four in 1996 -- the year after the women's team's first national title -- I was so upset, I had my only absence of the year from school on Monday, three days later. My teacher -- a fellow fan -- called me at home and commiserated with me.
I remain so "True Blue," I get invited to alumni events -- and I didn't even go to the school.
You might be reading this and thinking I'm really sad, and while that may be true, the reality is that I'm not alone in my fandom. There are thousands of equally devoted (some might say obnoxious) fans in Connecticut who live and breathe with the state's biggest university's hoops programs. And, can you really blame us? With 14 national titles between the two, it hasn't exactly been a challenge to root for either of them over the past two decades.
And with all the success, we've come to revere the team's architects with such respect; it's hard for them to do much wrong. From women's coach Geno Auriemma's mind-blowing 10 titles to former men's coach Jim Calhoun's ability to lead underdog squads to three national championships to current men's coach Kevin Ollie's improbable 2014 championship team, the Husky coaches are the closest thing Connecticut has to royalty.
But every now and then, something comes up that could potentially derail such admiration. (See: Calhoun's "GET SOME FACTS AND THEN COME BACK AND SEE ME!" or those pesky NCAA violations).
Notoriously outspoken Auriemma has raised eyebrows over the years with his fair share of questionable comments. This week's podcast with Grantland's Zach Lowe -- a fellow Husky fan, I might add -- was no exception to that.
After being told he was allowed to swear, Auriemma held nothing back -- calling some UConn fans "so goddamn stupid," criticizing a WNBA coach for saying Connecticut's dominance is bad for the game and condemning "women who bitch and moan all the time about not getting any respect, do a horrible job of supporting women's sports at the gate with their money."
Sure, these comments don't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but it really doesn't bother me either. It's just Geno being Geno. And when you win (have I mentioned this?) 10 NATIONAL TITLES, you can say pretty much whatever you want. I'm not alone in this thinking.
Kevin Meacham, who is one-half of the UConn fan Twitter account @NoEscalators, put it simply: "Geno seems like the kind of guy who'd speak his mind whether he was coaching the Olympic team, the national champion, working as a bartender, or working at Wal-Mart. It just so happens that his coaching ability makes him fairly bulletproof for as long as UConn and the state of Connecticut cares about women's basketball -- which hopefully will be forever."
Part of Geno's appeal is his brash frankness. He's like that hilarious but sometimes offensive uncle that everyone seems to have. You're not always going to love or agree with everything he says, but he provides the entertainment and brings the best side dishes -- or championship rings -- to Thanksgiving dinner. You take the good with the bad.
Could his tone or delivery have been better during the podcast interview? Sure. But he's not necessarily wrong. The expectations for his program are so unbelievably high because of what he's achieved, casual fans tend to freak out with a rare loss, even against a high-ranking opponent, but also complain after a blowout win. It's a lose-lose situation.
His most devoted fans understand this predicament. Posts on multiple threads on the all-UConn message board The Boneyard reveal as much. Here's a sampling:
"The more I hear Geno, the more real -- more of a person and less of a celebrity -- he becomes for me. There are witty people, there are honest people, and there are funny people. Geno manages to be all three. And a decent coach."
"As far as 99% of UConn fans are concerned, Geno can walk on water. Why should he care if it isn't 100%? Count me among the 99%. I can't wait to see the 2015-16 edition. We have a team of terrific young women. Go Huskies!"
"Although I've heard it all before, I always enjoy listening to Coach tell it like it is."
"Wow -- great podcast! Over an hour of Geno unplugged."
In actuality, most posters seemed more interested in the hilarious Diana Taurasi tidbits or his recollections of past championship teams than anything else. To the most devoted UConn fans, his derogatory remarks seemed to barely register.
A few commenters however were happy to see a national conversation around UConn women's basketball more than a month before the season gets underway. And that might just be part of Auriemma's genius. Call him what you want, but he knows what he's doing.
"The man is a master troll, in the absolute best sense of the word," said Meachem. "He knows how to get a rise out of people, to get them talking about UConn women's basketball. And then when people are focused on UConn women's basketball, they tune in to see them beat Muffet McGraw by 100 points. The formula works."
