Behind Geno Auriemma’s diss of Dawn Staley

(News4usonline) – Dawn Staley is an accomplished head basketball coach. Staley has won three national championships as a coach. She has taken the Gamecocks to the national title game in three straight seasons, four in the last five.  

Staley has come up victorious twice in those five encounters. Yes, Staley is a certified badass and widely seen or viewed as one of the best college basketball minds around-men or women.  

So when UConn head basketball coach Geno Auriemma decided to show his rear end and disrespect Staley in front of a nationally televised audience, it revealed what this man is all about. 

Staley’s alleged misgiving was dismissing Auriemma during a customary handshake between head coaches. This was contradicted by television replay and photos. Staley said it was not up to her to clarify Auriemma’s comments. 

“You can ask Geno the question,” Staley remarked. “He’s the one that initiated the conversation. I don’t want what happened there to dampen what we were able to accomplish today.“

I don’t need to see Auriemma’s resume that is littered with Final Four appearances and national championships to see that he made a complete jackass of himself and the UConn basketball program when he went AWOL on Staley after his Huskies got blitzed by the Gamecocks in a Final Four game.  

Now, for those not familiar with college basketball or more specifically, women’s college basketball, UConn handed Staley and South Carolina an 82-59 defeat in the 2025 national championship game. 

 “This time I thought we had enough firepower from an offensive standpoint,” Staley said.  “Then just from a defensive standpoint, this team has gotten better defensively in belief and utilizing their God-given abilities to lock in.”

Staley went on to say, “I thought it was a performance that makes you super proud. When they’re able to execute, you can see it as a coach. Sometimes the players don’t see it. What they did was just they filled in all the gaps that were created out there. Just super proud of ’em.”

And if one wanted to take a deeper dive into the history between Staley-Auriemma and their on-court rivalry, you will discover that Staley and South Carolina ran Auriemma and UConn off the floor in the 2022 national championship game, defeating the Huskies, 64-49.  

This latest loss for Auriemma and UCon had to hurt. A lot. The Huskies came into the game undefeated and the No. 1 team in the nation. That dream that Auriemma and the Huskies had of winning a national title turned into a South Carolina nightmare.   

“Our whole objective was to get them to shoot as inefficiently as possible, make them put the ball on the floor,” Staley said. “Don’t give them as many catch-and-shoot opportunities. I thought our kids really locked into that. They were scrappy. They were in gap help.”

It’s unfortunate that the Final Four of the NCAA Women’s Tournament had an ugly chapter unfold after the Gamecocks whupped up on UConn. After the Huskies had their lunch brought to them by South Carolina, Auriemma showed his true colors in the aftermath of that defeat. 

Instead of being gracious in defeat, Auriemma chose the pathway of whining like a teenager when the two met at halfcourt for the customary congratulatory handshake. 

The words that came out of Auriemma’s mouth were arbitrary and upsetting enough to Staley that it dramatically changed her demeanor and caused her to lose her cool. It was a nasty way for which Auriemma conducted himself in front of a national audience. 

It appeared, according to his own words, that Auriemma really didn’t give a hoot about what he said. He said what he said. Now shut up and get over it was basically his reply in regards to his conversation with a television reporter and his comments to Staley.

His statements about Staley and one of his players having her jersey allegedly ripped by a South Carolina student-athlete were out-of-pocket and speaks to his level of arrogance. 

“I don’t have any regrets about what I said to Holly Rowe,” Auriemma said. “Why would I? Why would I? I’ve been coaching a long time. I’ve never had a kid have to change their jersey because somebody ripped it and the official said, I didn’t see it.”

“There are a lot of things that happened in that game. Unless you’re on that sideline, you have no idea what’s happening on this sideline. No, I mean, for 41 years I’ve been coaching and, I don’t know, 25 Final Fours. The protocol is before the game you meet at halfcourt. Anybody see that before? Two coaches meet at halfcourt and they shake hands, correct? Ever see it? They announce it on the loudspeaker. I waited there for like three minutes. So it is what it is,” Auriemma also stated. 

Now, close your eyes and imagine if Staley, a Black woman, would have made similar remarks and carried herself the way that Auriemma did. Let’s see, I think I will take a jab at it. First, she would have had to issue a public and private apology (in this case Geno Auriemma) immediately, not 24 hours later like Auriemma was allowed to do. 

She would probably have been publicly reprimanded, and perhaps be asked to step down or be fired. 

That’s just my educated guess. But we know, as an African American, Staley could not respond as she might have wanted to. She knows what time it is. Racial disparity and racial bias still exist in this country. 

Despite the unprofessional antics conducted by Auriemma and his unfounded claims, Staley remained dignified and classy in the face of this latest storm. 

“I think that’s a Geno question,” said Staley.