"He just hit us with a tight b**ty hole": Former UConn star Sue Bird recalls fiery yet eccentric speech by HC Geno Auriemma
WNBA legend Sue Bird is one of the 47 players who transitioned to the big league from UConn's coach Geno Auriemma's tutelage. Her young basketball career was heavily impacted by the coach's presence as she was an instrumental part of two of Auriemma's 11 NCAA championships.
Now, talking to NBA legend Carmelo Anthony on the "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast, Bird reflected on one of the halftime locker room incidents that radiated Geno Auriemma's eccentric personality and ways to impact the roster (via ClutchPoints):
“So we're playing Tennessee, we're young and the first half's like not great. Its ups and downs, not great, and we're a little like tentative,” Bird said.
“He walks in the locker room and we're all sitting there you know, this is college so like at attention, he walks in the locker room and he goes, 'Do you see this [closed fist] do you see this? Do you know what this is? And by the way this man, he knows how to like build a moment up, that's his special sauce."
“'You see this, you see this? This is all your a**holes right now.' And then he goes on a whole thing about you're playing tight, you look scared, like all this s**t," she continued.
"And it was that moment where we're like dead a** serious like looking at him and then he says that and it was like all you could do is go like [mimicking to hold laughter] you can't laugh but you're laughing and you're just like, 'Oh god he just hit us with a tight b**ty hole,'” Bird concluded.
Auriemma’s experience and unique knack for coaching players are among the reasons he is one of the longest-tenured active coaches in women’s college basketball. He will enter his 40th season with the Huskies next year.
Geno Auriemma has failed to live up to his body of work in the last 8 years
UConn Huskies men’s basketball won back-to-back NCAA championships and is on the verge of becoming the most successful program in modern-day college basketball if they can achieve a three-peat next season. It would also pit coach Dan Hurley among the top of the coaching list in the sport.
Geno Auriemma has experienced the thrill of mounting a three-peat twice, once in the early 2000s (2002-2004) and four back-to-back NCAA championships from 2013-2016. Even though the women's Huskies team has maintained a significant standard of basketball, they have not been able to conquer it all in recent years.
Moreover, the 2016- 2024 stretch is the longest tenure in Geno Auriemma's coaching stint without lifting the title. Nevertheless, the Huskies are more than prepared for the 2024-25 season as their star player Paige Bueckers returns for a final year after rejecting to declare for the 2024 WNBA draft.