UConn’s Geno Auriemma becomes NCAA all-time basketball wins leader

STORRS, Conn. — Geno Auriemma’s coaching career at UConn already has been defined by unparalleled feats. Eleven national titles. Twenty-three Final Four berths, including 15 in the past 16 seasons. Six undefeated seasons. Separate win streaks of 98 and 111 games.

And on Wednesday night, in front of 60-plus former players and a sellout home crowd at Gampel Pavilion, Auriemma ascended yet another mountaintop when his Huskies routed Fairleigh Dickinson 85-41 to make him the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history.

Auriemma broke a tie he held since Friday with legendary Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who retired in April. His 1,217 wins are the most in NCAA history, women’s or men’s, for any division. The record-breaker was his 329th victory of at least 40 points; he has had more than twice as many 40-point wins in his career as total losses (162).

“We never sat down and said, ‘Hey, let’s make a 40-year plan and see if we can make this happen,'” Auriemma said. “It’s about coming here every day and trying to be better than we were yesterday.”

The game doubled as a celebration for Auriemma and longtime associate head coach Chris Dailey’s 40th season in Storrs. Red T-shirts and lighting adorned Gampel for the duo’s ruby anniversary. A fan fest with a goat petting zoo was held near the arena. Three different Auriemma- and Dailey-themed ice cream specials were sold at the school’s Dairy Bar. Surrounded by a host of former Huskies wearing commemorative T-shirts, program legends Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Maya Moore spoke in a postgame ceremony paying tribute to the coaching pair.

“Who knew that playing hard, playing smart and having fun would get you here?” Bird said. “I guess you two knew, and that’s all that matters.”

The UConn student section held up signs spelling out 1,217 in the waning minutes of Wednesday’s game. Confetti and streamers fell from the rafters, followed by fake “1,217 win” bills with Auriemma’s and Dailey’s photo on them.

Nike gave Auriemma and Dailey special ladders. Auriemma also received a sign from Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont reading, “Welcome to Connecticut, home of the winningest coach in basketball history,” and his current team gave him a framed jersey with 1,217 on it.

“Look around,” UConn great Rebecca Lobo said during the ceremony. “It’s not very often in life where you get to experience something that has never been done before. And it’s not very often in life where you get to experience something that will never be done again.”

The celebration concluded when a live goat was ushered out to Auriemma on a red carpet.

“He gives credit to everybody around him, and he doesn’t really take it for himself,” Huskies star Paige Bueckers said. “But what he’s built here, it’s here because of him, so he definitely downplays it. He doesn’t want to do the whole thing: the celebration, the goats, the ice cream, it’s all extra to him. But he deserves it, and we want to celebrate him, because he doesn’t celebrate himself a lot. So everyone around him will make sure they do that job.”

The festivities weren’t merely a celebration of Auriemma’s and Dailey’s longevity but also of their unparalleled excellence spanning generations. Even when the program wasn’t rattling off national championships, UConn was simply dominant: Auriemma’s .882 win percentage is an NCAA record. Half of his 162 losses came before his first championship in 1995.

But after Wednesday’s game, Auriemma and Dailey focused on what matters most to them: the relationships they formed along the way.

“No amount of championships and no amount of numbers or awards can take the place of the lives that we’ve impacted, that they’ve allowed us to impact,” Auriemma said. “That, to me, is the strongest part.

“When it’s over, whenever it is, what we’ll remember is tonight, and I’ll remember each and one of my players that I’ve ever coached. … I don’t know how much I helped them get what they wanted, but they helped me get everything I wanted.”

It’s surreal to Auriemma, who turned 70 in March, that he’s still coaching. So, too, is what he has managed to do in Storrs. When he took the job in 1985, he thought he would be at UConn for four years. Try four, 10 times over. And that’s what makes Wednesday even more special: Unlike VanDerveer and former Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski — the only other coaches to reach the 1,200-win mark — Auriemma has spent his entire head-coaching career at one school.

VanDerveer offered her congratulations to Auriemma after the game.

“This is yet another outstanding milestone in a career filled with them for Geno Auriemma. The level of success he has maintained at UConn over four decades will never be duplicated,” she said in a statement. “But his tremendous legacy extends far beyond any number of wins. It lives in the lives of the countless young women he has positively influenced throughout his career. Congratulations to Geno and Chris on this incredible accomplishment.”

The past four years have been particularly trying for Auriemma. The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll, as did the program’s seemingly constant stream of injuries. During the 2022-23 season, he also dealt with health issues and grieved the death of his mother. Auriemma felt the urge to step away multiple times over the past few seasons, but never went through with it.

“Whatever the pull is,” he said Tuesday, “it’s still there.”

ESPN Research contributed to this report.