Geno Auriemma

HEAD COACH: 2009-12 USA Basketball Women’s National Team

On April 5, 2009, Geno Auriemma, an assistant coach to the gold medalist 2000 U.S. Olympic Team and University of Connecticut head coach, was announced as the head coach of the USA Basketball Women's National Team for 2009-12. 

So far, Auriemma’s selection has paid off with a perfect 9-0 mark and the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, which also earned the U.S. its berth to the 2012 London Olympic Games.

In his first USA National Team coaching test, Auriemma steered the USA to a gold medal and a perfect 3-0 record against top professional teams from Europe in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational. He also coached the USA National Team to a victory over a squad filled with WNBA stars in July 2010, and a 3-1 exhibition slate prior to the ’10 Worlds.

Inducted in 2006 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, this is Auriemma's fifth USA Basketball coaching assignment. An assistant coach for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team that captured the gold medal in Sydney, Auriemma also served as head coach of the 2001 USA Junior World Championship Team (U19) that finished with a 6-1 slate and the bronze medal in Brno, Czech Republic; the 2000 USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Team (U18), which earned a gold medal in Mar del Plata, Argentina; the 1996 USA Basketball Women's Select Team, which trained in Colorado Springs against the 1996 USA R. William Jones Cup Team and the 1996 Russian Olympic Team; and the West Team at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival.

Over a span of two and a half seasons, from the start of the 2008-09 season, through Dec. 30, 2010, Auriemma guided the Huskies to an NCAA Division I basketball record 90-0 winning streak that included the 2009 and 2010 NCAA titles, and a pair of Big East Conference regular season and tournament crowns. It also marked his third and fourth undefeated seasons in Storrs.  
At the helm of Connecticut since the 1985-86 season, Auriemma owns an astounding 771-124 record for a stunning 86.1 winning percentage through the 2010-11 season, and heads up what many have termed the most successful basketball program of this decade, winning six of his seven NCAA crowns since 2000. Additionally, his teams have advanced to the NCAA Final Four 12 times, produced four undefeated seasons and collected a combined 36 Big East regular season and Big East Tournament titles.

His feats are even more amazing when you look at the history of the program prior to his arrival. Before he took over in Storrs, the Huskies had posted just one winning season in their 11 years on the court.

Winning a combined 21 national coach of the year trophies, Auriemma has collected six Naismith Coach of the Year awards, seven Associated Press Coach of the Year honors, five times earned the Women's Basketball Coaches Association trophy as the country's top coach, and thrice won the Victor Award by the National Academy of Sports Editors. He is also a 10-time Big East Conference Coach of the Year.