PHOENIX — University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has apologized for his actions during a heated exchange with South Carolina counterpart Dawn Staley at the end of the Huskies’ loss to the Gamecocks at the NCAA Division I tournament’s Final Four.
A visibly upset Auriemma went over to Staley in the final seconds of South Carolina’s 62-48 victory in Friday night’s first national semifinal at the Mortgage Matchup Center and appeared to chastise her. Coaches from both teams had to separate them.
When the game finally ended, the 72-year-old UConn coach walked off the court to the locker room without going back to shake hands with anyone from South Carolina, although the teams greeted one another as usual afterward.
“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina. It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut,” Auriemma said in a statement released Saturday. “I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina. It was uncalled for in how I reacted. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”
Auriemma, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and has been UConn’s head coach since 1985, has a career win-loss record of 1,288-166 and is the all-time victories leader in NCAA Division I basketball (men’s or women’s). His 12 NCAA Division I basketball titles are also a record, and the Huskies were 38-0 this season and seeking to repeat as champions before the loss to the Gamecocks, who improved to 36-3.