In the 40 years that he has coached the UConn Huskies, Geno Auriemma has produced some impressive numbers that may never be broken, and several records are still being set.
Geno Auriemma started coaching the UConn Lady Huskies in 1985. It wasn’t long before Connecticut would be one of the most dominating teams after Auriemma got hired for the coaching job.
Here are some of Geno Auriemma’s most impressive numbers.
1: Auriemma suffered his only losing season in his first year as head coach for the UCONN Huskies. He finished that season with a 12-15 record.
8: Auriemma has been bestowed eight Naismith Coach of the Year Awards. The first time was in 1995, when the Lady Huskies won their first title. The last time it was awarded to him was in 2017. The Coach of the Year Award is for the most outstanding men’s and women’s basketball head coaches in NCAA Division I Basketball.
Photo courtesy MONTO. Today
12: Auriemma has the most NCAA Division I Basketball championships at 12. In 2015, he tied John Wooden with 10. He surpassed that record the following year in 2016. The last time Auriemma won the championship was just last year.
24: As the head coach for UCONN, Auriemma has appeared in 24 Final Fours. They first appeared there in 1991. The team has also appeared in 14 consecutive Final Fours, from 2008 to 2022.
36: Without including the COVID-19 pandemic when the tournament didn’t occur, UCONN has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 36 consecutive times, dating back to 1989. At the end of the 2023-2024 season, it is the third-longest active consecutive appearances streak in Division I.
71: As the saying goes, “age is not a number.” That saying fits well for Auriemma’s 12th national championship, as he became the oldest head coach to win an NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament at 71. Even before that, Tara VanDerveer was the oldest active coach, winning her last title in 2021 at 67 years old for Stanford University. Even in the men’s side of basketball, UConn fits well in this category. Jim Calhoun, also at UConn, is the oldest men’s head coach to win a national championship at 68 years, 10 months, and 25 days old.
111: Winning streaks for the Lady Huskies have been frequent and ubiquitous when Auriemma has been the head coach. In 2010, Auriemma led the Huskies to their 89th consecutive win, one more than the all-time men’s record of 88 held by the UCLA Bruins under the legendary John Wooden. UConn’s streak ended at 90 wins. The Huskies eventually broke their own record with a 111-game winning streak that started in 2014 and ended in 2017.
143: The NCAA Tournament has treated Geno Auriemma very well. He has the most NCAA Division I Tournament wins, men’s or women’s, with 143, and an .856 winning percentage.
619: It’s difficult to be in the top 25 rankings for a year or even five years, but how about 619 consecutive weeks? UConn has been ranked for the past 619 consecutive weeks, dating back to the 1993-1994 preseason poll.
654: Overall, Geno Auriemma has led the Huskies to 654 appearances in the polls. Auriemma tied Tara VanDerveer for the most appearances in the AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll.
1279: Number of wins Auriemma has had at UConn (as of the end of play, Sunday, Feb 22, 2026). In addition to all those wins (the most ever), Auriemma was the fastest coach to 800, 900, 1,000, 1,100, and 1,200 wins at any level, men’s or women’s. He also has the highest winning percentage among NCAA basketball coaches, men’s or women’s, at around .886.
On November 20, 2024, Auriemma became the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history with 1,217 career wins, surpassing Tara VanDerveer.
Born in Italy, there is one word to describe Auriemma’s Hall of Fame Career: bravassimo!
