ST. LOUIS (USBWA) – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association will name its annual award for Women’s National Coach of the Year after Geno Auriemma of the University of Connecticut, it was announced on Wednesday.
The first national award named for Auriemma will become effective after the UConn coach for 39 seasons completes his career.
Auriemma, a record six-time winner of the award, has led the Huskies to 11 national championships – including six perfect seasons – and 23 Final Four appearances. UConn reached a national semifinal game in a record 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments from 2008 through '22.
He led the United States Women’s National Team to gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Championships.
The announcement was made before the USBWA held its annual awards banquet here at the Missouri Athletic Club, where Auriemma was scheduled to appear Wednesday night.
The awards banquet will be streamed live beginning at 8:45 p.m. EDT on the Missouri Athletic Club’s YouTube page @missouriathleticclub.
“Few would have suspected back in his Philly days – or on the day he signed his first contract to coach UConn given its place in the sport at that moment – that Geno would become the most successful of them all, breaking records that are unlikely to be surpassed,” said USBWA vice president Mel Greenberg, who has been involved in the association’s awards program for women’s basketball since 1989. “It is fitting and proper that his name be associated annually with the USBWA Division I Women’s Coach of the Year.”
The USBWA has recognized a Women’s National Coach of the Year for the past 35 seasons. Auriemma first received the award in 1995, the year the 35-0 Huskies completed their first perfect season with the school’s first national championship. He also won the award in 2003, 2008, 2009, 2016 and 2017. In the six seasons Auriemma received the award, the Huskies lost a total of four games. In 11 seasons prior to Auriemma’s arrival in 1985, UConn had one winning season, a 16-14 record in 1980-81.
There have been four other multiple winners in 35 seasons. Dawn Staley of South Carolina won for the fourth time in five years this past season in a national championship year. Kim Mulkey of Baylor and LSU and Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame have each won three times. Tara VanDerveer of Stanford, the inaugural winner in 1990, has won twice.
Auriemma’s career total of 1,213 victories is three behind VanDerveer, who recently announced her retirement as the leader among all NCAA coaches. He was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Women’s National Coach of the Year has been the only unnamed award presented by the USBWA. The National Player of the Year receives the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, and the National Freshman of the Year receives the Tamika Catchings Award.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With more than 800 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season and first awarded a Women’s National Player of the Year award in 1988. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at malcolm@usbwa.com.