Geno Auriemma doesn't like to lose. And though he rarely does, the Connecticut head coach likes to stick to his cynical sense of humor to keep his cool, no matter how much flack he gets for it.
So when his comments to the Hartford Courant last November raised a few eyebrows across the country, Auriemma stuck to his guns, no matter how frustrated he was when Columbus, Ohio's Brittany Hunter signed with the Blue Devils. The choice words--ranging from Duke's alumni waiting on tables to women's basketball attendance to freshman Jessica Foley's drinking habits--caused a ruckus that left Auriemma flabbergasted but, as usual, not for a lack of anything to say.
"I just assumed obviously they could take it as a joke," he said Thursday. "And obviously they can't, can they?
"We live in America today, and you're not allowed to have a sense of humor. You have to be careful what you say, and you have to be politically correct, otherwise people are going to think, 'Where does this guy get the right to say what he's saying?'"
Most people in the basketball world do not question his right to have a sense of humor, but still recognize one of women's sports' most definitive figures as having his eccentricities--quirks that do not seem to translate into as many wins as Connecticut has had for anyone but him. Duke's Gail Goestenkors, for one, admitted that she wasn't as "bold" as her counterpart in Saturday's matchup between the two schools, but that Auriemma's comments nonetheless sent her for a spin.
"I was surprised," she said. "I guess I wasn't surprised that he thought some of the things, but I was surprised that he said it, especially to a reporter. Geno is someone who has a very good sense of humor, and he says what he thinks. Sometimes it upsets people, and he's okay with that and he's very confident. So I guess I was a little surprised, but I laughed at it because I know that he's out to get a laugh as well. I didn't take it personally. I know people did, but I chose not to."
One person who Auriemma certainly went right after was Foley, an Australian-born forward the UConn coach lost in another recruiting battle. But despite Auriemma attacking her college selection as a product of a few too many pints of Foster's, Foley like most of her teammates is turning the comments into motivation for this weekend's game.
"What Geno said was pretty funny. I must admit, I laughed," she said. "But at the same time, I would love to come in and have a good game like I've had the last couple of [exhibition] games against them. But if I could come in and play well, then it'd be nice to shake his hand after the game and be like, 'Yeah, have a Foster's.'"
For his part, Auriemma is staying jokingly pessimistic about the game, as ever.
"I don't think there's any way we can win the game at Duke," he proclaimed. "I mean with as good as they are, as talented as they are and as experienced as they are, and then you throw in the Cameron Crazies and that's another 20 points right there, so there's just no way we can win the game. I'm not expecting to win the game. That's why I'm actually enjoying this thing. The whole thing has got me kind of smiling right now. I won't be miserable again until Tuesday when we play St. John's."
All humor aside, there's clearly an air of frustration in Auriemma's voice, not only with Duke threatening to end his team's 58-game winning streak Saturday but also with Goestenkors building a program suddenly looking a lot like his on the court. And while Auriemma still contends that he shouldn't be losing recruits for the "asinine" reason of a teenager preferring a Duke degree 20 years down the road over four years in his established system, Goestenkors' family approach seems to be working a little better this year. Even Foley thought that on her visit to UConn "they were so focused on basketball, whereas when I came to Duke it's all focus on more than basketball."
Then even if the Duke faithful at a sellout Cameron Indoor Stadium are out in their waiter's outfits or toasting a Foster's to Auriemma, he's not going to change.
"I'm not smart enough to figure out how to change my approach year in and year out," he said.
And if Duke wins tomorrow, does Goestenkor's off-the-court family develop into the women's basketball standard instead of Geno's streaking machineâ_"shutting him up and leapfrogging UConn?
"When they win their fourth national championship, that'll be progress," Auriemma said.
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