2008 Woodie Awards
Auriemma Wraps Up Season
Women's Basketball: UConn Coach Reflects On Good, Bad Times of 07-08
Kevin Meacham
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Sports
|
At a press conference in which the UConn women's coach was presented with the Naismith Women's Basketball Coach of the Year award, Auriemma was at times poignant, at times outrageous.
The Naismith award, Auriemma's fifth in the award's 22 years of existence, was as a result of UConn finishing the 2007-08 season 36-2 overall, and came after the Huskies advanced to the Final Four despite losing starting guards Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas for much of the year.
"Having people recognize you for what you do and how you do it, I don't think it ever gets to be old hat," he said. "[Awards] are not why you coach, but it's something the players and the staff … can take a great deal of pride in."
Upon reflection, Auriemma concluded that this season was more difficult than most. Despite being the pre-NCAA tournament favorites to win the title, the UConn coach felt his team was getting by on "smoke and mirrors," thanks to the loss of Greene and Thomas.
That, combined with the team's desperation to deliver its four seniors - Thomas, Charde Houston, Brittany Hunter and Ketia Swanier - to their first-ever Final Four, was too much to overcome.
"You knew, deep down inside, that if it ever got to the point where [other teams] could expose you for what you really are, it was going to be hard," Auriemma said. "When you get to the Final Four, you're able to have Plan A, B and C. Going in, we had Plan A, and it had better work."
The Huskies fell to Stanford, 82-73, in their first national semifinal loss in four tries since 2001.
The coach mused about his future at the university as well, saying he had thought about the end of his coaching career - though not about any particular end time.
"Yeah, you're getting to an age now where you're past the point where you used to think old people died," the 54-year-old coach said. "Now you're at an time where people your own age are dying. For me, I know that [leaving coaching] is going to come. I don't know when, though, if it's five years or 10. What scares you is, what are you gonna do when it ends?"
Be the first to comment on this story