Geno Auriemma became the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history on Wednesday in front of a sold-out Gampel Pavilion when his Huskies defeated Fairleigh Dickinson.
Auriemma had been tied with former Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer going into the game before he surpassed her with his 1,217th win, skyrocketing him into the history books in both NCAA women’s and men’s hoops at any level of college basketball.
“This is yet another outstanding milestone in a career filled with them for Geno Auriemma,” VanDerveer said in a statement after Auriemma broke the record. “The level of success he has maintained at UConn over four decades will never be duplicated. But his tremendous legacy extends far beyond any number of wins. It lives in the lives of the countless young women he has positively influenced throughout his career.”
Auriemma has been the gold standard among college basketball coaches, and he has helped turn the UConn women’s program into one that other schools have been trying to emulate.
The 70-year-old has helped lead UConn to 11 NCAA championships, 23 Final Four appearances and 28 conference titles between the Big East and the AAC.
“We never sat down and said hey let’s make a 40-year plan and see if we can make this happen,” Auriemma said, according to the Associated Press. “It’s about coming here every day and trying to be better than we were yesterday.”
Over 60 alums of the basketball program made their way to Storrs, Connecticut to see history.
Among those who made the trip were women’s basketball greats Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Rebecca Lobo.
The day had already been a celebration of Auriemma and longtime associate head coach Chris Dailey, both of whom have spent 40 years leading the program.
“As long as I’m here and I walk in this building and I see the players here and I see the people that work in my little world and how we all kind of motivate each other,” Auriemma said, per ESPN. “There’s no other place I would want to be.”
The school broke out a number of ways to celebrate the occasion, which included a petting zoo that had goats and a special ice cream flavor called “Legend-Berry Legacy.”
An old goat was even brought onto the court postgame during Auriemma’s celebration.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont presented the UConn coach with a special street sign commemorating his milestone and an actual goat was brought out onto the court.