UConn’s Geno Auriemma becomes third college coach in history to reach 1,200 career wins
UConn cruised to a dominant 33-point win over Seton Hall on Wednesday night
Geno Auriemma joined an elite group of college basketball coaches on Wednesday night.
The longtime UConn women’s basketball coach picked up his 1,200th career win after the Huskies cruised to a 67-34 win over Seton Hall. He’s now just the third coach in history, men’s or women’s, to reach the 1,200-win mark. Only former Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski and current Stanford women’s coach Tara VanDerveer have hit that milestone. Auriemma is also the fastest to get there.
Just the third to 1,200 wins and he did it the fastest.
There’s only one Geno Auriemma 🐐 pic.twitter.com/32wuvjZbVF— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) February 8, 2024
Krzyzewski won 1,202 games before he retired, which made him the winningest men’s Division I coach in history. VanDerveer surpassed Krzyzewski and grabbed her 1,203rd victory last month. Auriemma and VanDerveer are the only two active coaches on the women’s side who are even close to the 1,200 wins mark. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder is the next closest Division I women’s coach, though she has 871 career wins. Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis is the closest active coach on the men’s side. He has 831 career wins.
Auriemma, 69, is now in his 39th season with the Huskies. He first landed at UConn in 1985, and he quickly turned them into a powerhouse in women’s basketball. He’s won 11 championships there, reached the Final Four 22 times and has only missed the NCAA tournament three times. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
No. 11 UConn had no issue beating the Pirates on Wednesday night. They held them to single digits in all but one quarter and led from start to finish. Aaliyah Edwards led the way with 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Ashlynn Shade dropped 17 points after shooting 5-of-10 from behind the arc. Seton Hall shot 22% from the field as a team, didn’t have a player hit double figures and went just 2-of-23 from behind the arc.
The win moved UConn to 20-4 on the season. They’ll travel to No. 1 South Carolina next on Sunday.
Auriemma is sure to pass Krzyzewski in the very near future, which will put him in a tight race with VanDerveer through the rest of their careers for the all-time mark. As of Wednesday night, VanDerveer has won 1,206 games in her time as a head coach. To Auriemma’s credit, he’s both hit the 1,200 wins mark in a shorter timeframe than VanDerveer and he’s lost more than 100 fewer games than she has in her career.
Regardless, Auriemma had already solidified himself as one of the best college basketball coaches of all time. Now, he’s reached another milestone to prove that.
