GENO GOES GLOBAL

Six national championships and three perfect seasons.

Naismith and AP Coach of the Year awards.

Now, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma can add the head coaching position for USA Basketball women's national team to his growing list of accolades.

"…I also believe that we have selected a coach that's going to add to the legacy of the USA Basketball Women's National Team program," said Jim Tooley, executive director of USA Basketball. "So it is my pleasure to announce Geno Auriemma as the next head coach of USA Basketball Women's National Team."

With those words, Auriemma cracked a smile, unable to contain his excitement any longer: He just officially inherited the world's best women's basketball program.

He hoped for the chance. After all, he served as assistant coach to the women's Olympic team that captured gold in 2000.

"By the time we got there [to the opening ceremony], I've never seen so many flashbulbs going off," he said. "I remember calling my house, standing there in front of 110,000 people talking to my son. He was watching it on TV. I said 'Can you see me?' I think the answer was no. But that moment stayed with me all this time."

Once the rules changed and WNBA coaches and players completed the roster, though, he gave up.

At least until Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski got head coaching position for the Olympic men's basketball team that won gold in Beijing.

Four years later, Auriemma's chance came, as he received the call prior to this year's Final Four.

During that time, publicly Auriemma displayed confidence. Behind the scenes, though, he said he grew paranoid about how a loss for UConn would reflect on the committee's decision.

"And then, for me, it was like man, you know, I hope we win this damn thing, not just so that we win a national championship for UConn, but it would really be important to USA Basketball people on top of that to be able to then make this announcement as opposed to we lose," he said. "My biggest fear after you lose is 'Yeah, well I hope he doesn't screw up the U.S. team like he did UConn.'"

Ultimately, he needed not to worry. The team reached perfection and brought home a national title. The committee's decision looked good. And those he called part of his supporting cast - his wife and two daughters (his son Michael Auriemma unable to attend) - were on hand when the announcement was made.

"It does come along at a good time in my life," he said. "In 2000… I was gone a long, long time and I really gave up a lot of my time with my family at an age when my kids were, I think were anxious to have me around. That's not the case now. They're not that anxious to have me around 'cause when I am around, they don't go out of their way and want to spend any time with me. They've got their own thing going on, which is good, and I think they're at an age where they can enjoy it more. They can appreciate it."

He takes the reign of a national squad that boasts a 58-1 record between world championships and Olympics since 1996 and has four gold medals. Perhaps more importantly, former players Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi form what Auriemma called the core of the team.

"USA Basketball's always been important on the women's side and I know those two, especially, it's really important to them," he said. "They've told me that they want to go out the right way and they want to do it the right way."

Now, Auriemma prepares to return to the world stage, as the team will compete in the FIBA World Championships in 2010 to be held in the Czech Republic.

"To be given this opportunity to work with the best players in the world and compete at the highest level in the world and to take over a program that's had so much success and knows only winning - as Jim [Tooley] said, I just want to add to the legacy of all the great coaches and all the great players who have done so many great things for USA Basketball," he said. "I just want the group that I'm going to be coaching to feel like they're a part of something special, because they are. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."

Then came questions of responsibility, and the logistics of being a head coach of two elite programs.

Carol Callan, the women's national team director, pledged to work with Auriemma's availability and that of players to ensure training camps that would turn out a team capable of winning.

Auriemma, too, said his first commitment came to UConn and the players he coached at the university.

Of course, the prospects are large for his new team.

"You know, I can't imagine that there's anything that would be more gratifying than winning a gold medal," he said. "And there's a lot of people who probably take it for granted that you get opportunities like this because you were born in this country and you feel a sense of entitlement. I wasn't.

"And it means a lot to me and people that I grew up with to be part of this and I was never entitled to this. It's something that we had to work really hard for and fortunately, I've been given this opportunity. And I can't imagine that there's anything that I will ever do in my coaching career that will be as meaningful to me as winning a gold medal on a lot of levels."

Some of the current players at the university - Renee Montgomery, who joined the Minnesota Lynx last week, Tina Charles and Maya Moore - may also see the Olympics in the future. But Auriemma promised not to play favorites, saying that he would not take them if they were at the same level as the other players.

No, he said, they needed to be better.

Moore said that idea provided motivation to work even harder. Montgomery said it was not something "on the radar" presently, though she said she would be honored to even get the opportunity to try out for the team.

Still, she said Auriemma asked for her to be at the press conference when the announcement was made. She honored that request.

There he sat, a Hall of Fame coach twice over, a national champion, a coach of the year. A coaching career that spanned decades. Often depicted as confident and one to crack jokes, he let his guard down.

Yes, he was all of those things, but now he held a new job.

"I promise I won't let you down," he said.