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Geno Auriemma loses it: UConn’s previously perfect season ends with coach’s legacy-damaging meltdown
PHOENIX – Last week in Texas, during the Regionals of the women’s NCAA Tournament, I asked Geno Auriemma and his UConn players about how they prepare for adversity, considering how little they had faced on the court this season.
“As far as adversity goes, I would say the adversity is me, right? Every day for five months they have to put up with me, so I try to be for them all the things that can happen at this time of the year that you need to be prepared for,” Auriemma said.
On Friday night in Phoenix, South Carolina gave UConn a season’s worth of adversity in one game and ended the Huskies’ quest for a 13th title with a 62-48 drubbing in the national semifinal. UConn’s previously perfect season was gone and so was the team’s 54-game winning streak. And while all of the Huskies struggled with the Gamecocks’ stifling defense and clutch shooting, the person who looked least prepared for adversity was Auriemma himself.
The coach gave a surprising in-game interview to ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the third quarter in which he complained about the officiating, criticized Gamecocks’ head coach Dawn Staley for the language she used with officials and accused the Gamecocks of ripping Sarah Strong’s jersey.
Then, while the game was wrapping up — but, notably, before the buzzer sounded — Auriemma approached Staley, presumably for a postgame handshake. He started yelling at her, had to get held back by his assistants and then, after the two sides were sent back to their benches so the clock could actually wind down to zero, he marched off to the tunnel without participating in the actual handshake line.
Geno Auriemma, Dawn Staley get into heated exchange after UConn’s Final Four loss: What we know
Jack Maloney
It was an embarrassing display of petulance from a legendary coach, and he somehow made it even worse in a meandering postgame press conference. That press conference began with him refusing to address what he said to Staley (“I just said what I had to say. Nothing. Nothing.”) and ended with him discussing a “double standard” and inferring that Staley, a Black woman, gets more leeway to berate officials than he does.
In between, he whined about Staley not shaking hands with him before right before tip-off. This was seemingly the crux of Auriemma’s displeasure with Staley — even though she did shake Auriemma’s hand at a different point before the game.
Auriemma also wrongly stated multiple times that South Carolina players ripped UConn star Sarah Strong’s jersey when Strong herself sat on the podium next to Auriemma and admitted she ripped her own jersey. And Auriemma refused to apologize for his comments to Rowe.
It left everyone in the press conference looking around in disbelief wondering, “How in the world did we get here?” Losing is hard, and everyone, even legends, are entitled to a little grace in tough moments. But Auriemma crossed the line so many times with his tantrums that it’s worth wondering if there’s even a path back to the other side of it.
It seems almost silly to give a breakdown of a grown man’s irrational breakdown, but I suppose that’s where we are. I’ll do my best.
Let’s start with the pre-game handshake-gate. Staley told ESPN after the game that it seemed like Auriemma was mad about a lack of a handshake close to tip-off. When asked about this specifically, Auriemma confirmed.
“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,” he said. “I waited there for like three minutes.”
When another reporter pointed out that there were multiple photos and videos of a pre-game handshake, Auriemma scoffed.
“No, I think you missed the point of what I’m talking about, so… I’d rather not go into it,” he said. “Anybody that’s been in the NCAA tournament, you know what I’m talking about.”
Next, we have jersey-gate, which is pretty cut and dried. Strong ripped her own jersey and said as much while sitting next to Auriemma on the podium. Auriemma was told by a reporter that there was video of Strong ripping her jersey. Only then did he let that point go, though he continued to complain about officiating.
Then we have double-standard-gate. Auriemma told Rowe after the third quarter that Staley “rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referees some names you don’t want to hear.” A reporter asked him about a moment in the second quarter, where Staley was yelling at the officials and it looked like he was asking if she was allowed to talk to them like that.
“I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard,” he said. “I’m of the opinion that if I ever talk to an official like that, I would get tossed. So I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard, that some people are allowed to talk to officials like that and other people are not. That’s it.”
Finally, we have the postgame handshake-gate, which Auriemma didn’t address directly. But he certainly didn’t apologize for leaving the court without shaking hands with the South Carolina players, an absolutely disgraceful move for any head coach, let alone a person of his stature, experience and significance to the game.
Often, diving into game film provides more nuance to the situation or shows you that your first impressions of the game was off base. In this case, it’s just the opposite. Auriemma’s actions on Friday were inexcusable and while they won’t come close to erasing his enormous impact on the game and his three decades and counting of unprecedented success at UConn, they can and should provide a slight tarnish to his legacy.
This is a man who had his ego bruised, who was personally outcoached during the game and who melted down in a stew of his own self-pity and victimhood because of it. His players played a poor game, there’s no getting around it. Staley might have snubbed him — unintentionally or not — before tip-off and the refs might have missed some calls during play. But none of that comes close to excusing his behavior. After a season of blowout wins and Big East dominance, Auriemma collapsed at the slightest hint of hardship and challenge.
On this night, he was, indeed, the adversity.
Trump is considering more changes to his Cabinet in the coming weeks
In his first year back in the White House, President Donald Trump avoided using his famous “You’re fired” phrase when it came to members of his Cabinet. But this year is shaping up to have far more changes.
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In less than a month, Trump removed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi. The shake-up has spurred the possibility that the president’s desire to project stability among his top appointees has passed, and more changes are coming in the near future.
“I expect something in terms of the next several weeks, and the president is mulling both changes and reorganizations,” said a person directly familiar with Trump’s thinking, who added that they didn’t know who could be next.
Nothing, of course, is certain, and individuals who are in his favor may suddenly find themselves out, and vice versa.
It’s a stark departure from Trump’s previous term. Then, several high-level administration officials left during his first year in office, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, national security adviser Michael Flynn and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.
This time, some top administration officials have faced high-profile scandals or missteps, but Trump opted not to remove them.
“For the first year, they wanted to avoid the bad optics — the stuff that comes with high-level staff churn,” said a Trump ally, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak freely. “That is ending. He no longer seems to care about the perception issue.”
Among those who have been at the center of public controversies or missteps are Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, each of whom has received varying degrees of public backlash for personal scandal or decisions their agencies have made.
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Why did President Trump fire Pam Bondi?
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Lutnick has been caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, forced to explain why he appears multiple times in the late convicted sex offender’s files and why he visited his private island. Lutnick has said he “did not have any relationship with him.”
“He’s been on the rocks off and on,” a Trump adviser said of Lutnick’s standing.
The adviser said he’s also fallen out of favor with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
“I don’t think she is a big fan,” a second Trump ally familiar with the White House’s thinking said. “That can be a problem if the administration is in reset mode.”
A White House spokesperson said that Trump continues to support his administration officials.
“President Trump has the most talented cabinet and team in American history,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle. “Patriots like DNI Gabbard, Secretary Lutnick, and Secretary Chavez-DeRemer are tirelessly implementing the President’s agenda and achieving tremendous results for the American people. They continue to have the President’s full confidence.”
Spokespeople for Lutnick, Gabbard and Chavez-DeRemer did not immediately return requests for comment.
Wiles, these two sources said, had been a driving force behind the idea that Trump’s first year in office should not be dominated by headlines of administration turnover, but that calculation from top officials has since changed.
“Susie was trying to hold it off as long as she could, but once you oust the attorney general, you may as well rip the Band-Aid off on a couple of others,” the Trump ally said.
Some see the timing — more than a year into the administration — as a natural point for turnover and a signal that Trump is willing to adjust when he deems course corrections necessary.
“It’s a year and a half in, and they are analyzing what’s working and what’s not working,” said a former administration official from Trump’s first term. “He understands that there are times when you need to make a change.”
“He’s a demanding boss,” the person added. “He has high expectations at all times.”
Others say that if there’s more reshuffling — the president is famously the host of “The Apprentice,” a show based on firing contestants — it’s a return to form for Trump.
“Watching the Cabinet right now is like a reality TV show — but it’s not ‘The Apprentice’ as much as it may be ‘Survivor,’” said Matthew Barlett, a GOP consultant who worked in the first Trump administration. “Personal responsibility and public accountability are essential in government service, but these moves seem more about presidential loyalty and frustration.”
A shake-up before the November election also has the added benefit of some certainty in the Senate, where Republicans control the majority and are more likely to confirm Trump’s nominees. Waiting to bring in new officials until after November risks running into the potential of Democrats in charge, or a narrow margin of Republican control.
Trump announced Noem — who faced significant backlash and congressional scrutiny over a $220-million taxpayer-funded ad campaign prominently featuring her encouraging migrants to self-deport — was leaving DHS in a social media post shortly before she was set to give the keynote address at a Nashville event attended by members of police unions.
A few weeks later, Trump informed Bondi that her time was nearing an end while they were in the motorcade together on the way to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, according to an administration official, but they didn’t finalize the decision or timeline in that conversation. It was left open-ended, the official said, and Bondi thought she might still be able to save her job.
The next day, Trump announced she was fired.
The administration official described the Noem and Bondi firings as “totally separate situations.” Trump had been considering firing Bondi for months, whereas the decision to fire Noem was quicker. Trump told NBC News he “wasn’t thrilled“ with Noem’s performance testifying before Congress in March and the $220-million ad campaign.
Bondi, on the other hand, had lost the confidence of Trump and his allies over time for her handling of the Epstein files and the Justice Department’s inability to secure indictments against the president’s political foes, as NBC News previously reported.
Trump praised Noem and Bondi after their departures. He moved Noem to another administration job leading the newly created Shield of Americas, and he called Bondi a “Great American Patriot.” Bondi said she will be moving into the private sector.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference, interviewed then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche onstage last week in Texas at the group’s annual meeting. That was a few days before Bondi was fired and Blanche became acting attorney general.
Schlapp, in an interview on Friday, said that he had told Blanche beforehand about the criticism that the Justice Department hadn’t done enough to hold Joe Biden’s administration accountable for what Schlapp called “clear wrongdoing.”
Blanche told Schlapp that he welcomed “hard questions” and was prepared to give “good answers,” Schlapp recalled.
“He was certainly aware that people are saying, ‘Come on, why are people taking so long’” to prosecute former Biden administration officials, Schlapp told NBC News.
But even with a change in leadership at the Justice Department, the prosecutions still might not be as successful as Trump would like — coming up against facts, law and evidence that do not support viable criminal prosecutions, according to former federal prosecutors.
Aside from Lutnick, another administration official who has faced public blowback is Chavez-DeRemer, who leads the Labor Department. Her husband has been prohibited from entering the Labor Department’s headquarters after allegedly sexually assaulting female staff members. A D.C. police investigation was closed after authorities found no evidence of a crime. Two of her aides have also resigned amid an internal investigation into possible misconduct. Chavez-DeRemer has denied wrongdoing.
Gabbard, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, has also been in the spotlight since the war with Iran started because of her longstanding public opposition to “regime change,” including in Iran. Last month, one of her top deputies resigned over his opposition to the Iran war.
During a hearing last month before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard said it was not her job to determine if Iran was an “imminent threat” to the U.S., which was one of Trump’s initial justifications for the attacks.
The potential shuffle comes as Republicans are trying to hold onto slim majorities in both the House and Senate in the midterms, but it’s unclear how much these changes might affect the election.
“People, especially those in the MAGA movement who follow this stuff closely, care to some degree,” said a Republican directly involved in several GOP Senate campaigns. “But for the most part, it will still be the economy driving things. These Cabinet moves are a flashpoint that people react to quickly, but they tend to go away quickly.”
“This sort of stuff is an emotional high for people in the moment,” this person added, “but don’t tend to last.”
Albuquerque company helps track NASA’s Artemis II mission
Albuquerque has a direct connection to the first mission to the moon in 50 years through Raven Defense, which is helping track NASA’s Artemis II mission.”These antennas are all motion-stabilized RF auto-tracking antennas. They’re designed to track moving objects from a boat,” said Michael Robson, chief growth officer for Raven Defense.Three Americans and one Canadian are currently pushing deeper into space, continuing their historic journey to the moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission. They are expected to reach the moon on Monday. The crew will whip around the moon aboard their capsule, named Orion, make a dramatic U-turn, and then begin the trip back home. One of the first stunning images of Earth captured from Orion shows a glowing green band of aurora, better known as the northern lights. “This is a big deal going back to the Moon,” Robson said. “We are providing a Doppler track of the Orion capsule.”As Orion speeds through space, Raven Defense’s team measures subtle changes in its signal.”So what we’re doing is we’re taking Doppler measurements as it’s making its way, traversing from the Earth to the Moon,” Robson said.”So far, so good, at least from my perspective,” Robson said when asked if everything is going as projected.Raven Defense operates antennas around the world, including in Australia and Alaska. The company also had a vessel stationed near Cape Canaveral this week to help track the launch.It’s a proud moment for what they call “a homegrown operation” — but it’s not the only New Mexico connection. In December 1972, Jack Schmitt, born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, landed on the moon. Schmitt was the last person to step on the lunar surface since, according to NASA. Robson said his team is not relaying information to NASA in real time.”We’re really just tracking a signal and not really collecting any data, so to speak. We’re just looking at the frequency dithering in that signal that we’re tracking,” Robson said. Orion’s flyby around the moon will last about four hours before coming home and landing off the coast of San Diego. The astronauts will splash down just 16 minutes after entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Albuquerque has a direct connection to the first mission to the moon in 50 years through Raven Defense, which is helping track NASA’s Artemis II mission.
“These antennas are all motion-stabilized RF auto-tracking antennas. They’re designed to track moving objects from a boat,” said Michael Robson, chief growth officer for Raven Defense.
Three Americans and one Canadian are currently pushing deeper into space, continuing their historic journey to the moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission. They are expected to reach the moon on Monday. The crew will whip around the moon aboard their capsule, named Orion, make a dramatic U-turn, and then begin the trip back home.
One of the first stunning images of Earth captured from Orion shows a glowing green band of aurora, better known as the northern lights.
“This is a big deal going back to the Moon,” Robson said. “We are providing a Doppler track of the Orion capsule.”
As Orion speeds through space, Raven Defense’s team measures subtle changes in its signal.
“So what we’re doing is we’re taking Doppler measurements as it’s making its way, traversing from the Earth to the Moon,” Robson said.
“So far, so good, at least from my perspective,” Robson said when asked if everything is going as projected.
Raven Defense operates antennas around the world, including in Australia and Alaska. The company also had a vessel stationed near Cape Canaveral this week to help track the launch.
It’s a proud moment for what they call “a homegrown operation” — but it’s not the only New Mexico connection.
In December 1972, Jack Schmitt, born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, landed on the moon. Schmitt was the last person to step on the lunar surface since, according to NASA.
Robson said his team is not relaying information to NASA in real time.
“We’re really just tracking a signal and not really collecting any data, so to speak. We’re just looking at the frequency dithering in that signal that we’re tracking,” Robson said.
Orion’s flyby around the moon will last about four hours before coming home and landing off the coast of San Diego.
The astronauts will splash down just 16 minutes after entering Earth’s atmosphere.
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UCLA survives late surge from Texas to make first NCAA title game
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Andrea Adelson
Multiple Authors
PHOENIX — There would be no offensive showcase between UCLA and Texas on Friday night, a slog of a game that ended up as one of the lowest scoring in women’s Final Four history. The Bruins did just enough to give themselves a chance to win the first NCAA championship in school history.
Behind Lauren Betts and a defensive performance that stifled Madison Booker and the Longhorns, UCLA held off a late Texas run and avenged its only loss of the season 51-44 in the semifinals, setting up a title game showdown against South Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
UCLA, which has won 30 straight games since losing to Texas on Nov. 26, reached the title game for the first time in program history, though the Bruins did win the AIAW Large College championship in 1978.
For the Bruins, it felt a bit like redemption, not only because they fell to Texas 76-65 in November, but also because their Final Four showing last year as the No. 1 overall seed ended in an 85-51 blowout loss to UConn. UCLA coach Cori Close told reporters in the leadup to Friday’s game that she had done a “crappy job as a leader.” Players vowed to do better.
They did, but nothing about the victory was pretty. UCLA, which averages 85.1 points, had its fair share of issues scoring on the stifling Texas defense. UCLA had 23 turnovers, the most in a Final Four game since April 8, 2008, when Stanford had 24 against Tennessee.
But Texas fared worse, looking nothing like the team that had reeled off 12 straight wins after a loss to Vanderbilt in November in which coach Vic Schaefer questioned his team’s toughness.
Texas could not hit an open shot for long stretches, and Booker struggled, finishing 3-of-23 from the field with just six points. It was a stark contrast to their win over the Bruins in November, when Booker had 16 points and Rori Harmon had 26.
In that game, Betts scored only eight points. She was determined to change that in Friday’s rematch, and in a game in which points were at a premium, she did enough to assert her presence in the paint to be a difference-maker. Betts led UCLA with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Given the scoring issues for both teams, the game stayed tight through the first three quarters. UCLA led 31-28 leaded into the fourth, but a 7-0 run broke the game open, keyed by a 3-pointer from Kiki Rice at the 9:04 mark and then a layup by Gabriela Jaquez to give the Bruins a double-digit lead.
UCLA led by 13 points with 4:36 to play, but Texas whittled that lead down to 47-44 with 55.8 seconds remaining, as its defensive intensity forced UCLA to turn the ball over and miss shots. Following a missed jumper by Angela Dugalic with 30 seconds left, Booker went for a layup, but Betts blocked the shot with 20 seconds remaining. Rice made two free throws with 13.3 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
UCLA set the defensive tone early in the game, contesting nearly every shot and holding Texas to just six first-quarter points — tied for the second-fewest points in a quarter in the Final Four since quarters were adopted in 2016. But in the second quarter, the Bruins scored just six points themselves.
It all added up to becoming just the third time in Final Four history that the teams combined for fewer than 100 points in a game.
But what does that matter when you are standing on the verge of school history?
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Freeze Saturday morning, then quiet weather for Easter weekend
Freezing temperatures are likely for parts of western, northern, and central New Mexico Saturday morning. Quiet weather moves in for Easter weekend. A couple of cold fronts have been moving south into New Mexico Friday, dropping high temperatures a couple degrees to over 10° today along and north of I-40. Temperatures are warmer today in […]
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Geno Auriemma, Dawn Staley get into heated exchange after UConn’s Final Four loss: What we know
South Carolina’s stunning upset win over UConn in the Final Four on Friday night was overshadowed by a bizarre incident between Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley and Huskies coach Geno Auriemma — two of the all-time greats — just before the final buzzer.
The Gamecocks were up by 14 and running out the clock. Before UConn inbounded the ball to officially end the game, however, Auriemma started walking toward the South Carolina bench. As he passed by Staley, tempers suddenly flared.
Both parties had to be held back by their respective coaching staffs and the officials, and the game was slightly delayed. When the game finally did end, Auriemma walked off without acknowledging anyone on the South Carolina side.
ESPN reporter Kareem Copleland captured a courtside video in which Dawn Staley appears to say “I will beat Geno’s ass” after the two were separated.
Staley, in a postgame interview with ESPN, said she thought maybe Auriemma was upset about a lack of pregame handshake between the two coaches. The two did shake hands at some point pregame, but Auriemma waited for another handshake right before tip-off and never got one.
“I have no idea. But I’m gonna let you know this: I’m of integrity. I’m of integrity,” Staley said. “So if I did something wrong to Geno — I don’t know what I did. I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn’t know. I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff’s hand. I don’t know what he came with after the game. Sometimes, things get heated. We move on.”
Added Auriemma: “For 41 years I’ve been coaching and, I don’t know, 25 Final Fours,” he said. “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.”
When asked about the fact that the two did shake hands, Auriemma dismissed the question.
“No, I think you missed the point of what I’m talking about, so… I’d rather not go into it,” Auriemma said. “Anybody that’s been in the NCAA tournament, you know what I’m talking about.”
Staley didn’t want to take away from her team’s accomplishment after the game.
“You can ask Geno the question. He’s the one that initiated the conversation,” Staley said during her press conference. “I don’t want what happened there to dampen what we were able to accomplish today.”
Auriemma’s frustration started well before his confrontation with Staley. During his interview with Holly Rowe between the third and fourth quarters, Auriemma ranted about the refs and called out Staley’s behavior on the sideline.
After the game, Auriemma kept up his complaints.
“There were six fouls called that quarter – all of them against us. And they’ve been beating the shit out of our guys down there the entire game. And I’m not making excuses because we haven’t been able to make a shot, but this is ridiculous,” Auriemma said. “Their coach [Staley] rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referees some names you don’t want to hear. And now we get six to zero and I’ve a kid with a ripped jersey, and they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ C’mon man. This is for the national championship.”
Auriemma closed his press conference by circling back to his thoughts about the officiating and Staley’s sideline conduct.
“I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard,” Auriemma said. “I’m of the opinion that if I ever talk to an official like that, I would get tossed. So I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard, that some people are allowed to talk to officials like that and other people are not. That’s it. So yeah, I was pretty frustrated.”
UConn’s stunning loss ended the Huskies’ perfect season, their 54-game winning streak (which was tied for the fourth-longest all time) and their quest for back-to-back championships. No team has won back-to-back titles since UConn won four in a row from 2013-16.
South Carolina will play UCLA in the national championship on Sunday. This is the Gamecocks’ third consecutive appearance in the national championship game, and they are seeking their fourth title under Staley.