The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Geno says Tennessee slurs still sting
The respect he has shown for Pat Summitt’s life does not change.
Neither does his anger over the aspersions unfairly thrown at his competitive character.
And while he was on the phone Wednesday, Geno Auriemma made a few other points. He does not believe these two UConnTennessee games in 2019-20 and 2020-21 mean a return to the glory days of the greatest rivalry in women’s basketball.
Nor does the resumption of the series have anything to do with influencing Tennessee to honor a two-game football contract with UConn.
“Mostly it was the Hall of Fame wanting to do something,” Auriemma said. “It had been batted around for a few years. You could never find the right balance of where, when and all that.
“Neal Eskin (senior associate athletic director) did an amazing job of coordinating all this. He worked with the Hall of Fame. They came up with a plan.”
By brokering a renewal of games that looked as if would never happen, the Naismith Hall helped raise money for the Pat Summit Foundation and for both its and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Commendable and thought to be impossible.
You may remember how Summitt ended the rivalry in 2007, a bad decision in a career of greatness, a cowardly call in a life of bravery. You remember how Summitt ended the series without explanation, and how a year later 11 silly accusations against UConn surfaced via a Freedom of Information request by ESPN. Ten of the 11 accusations were rejected by the NCAA and the only slung mud that stuck against the NCAA wall was that UConn made reservations for a recruit named Maya Moore to take a tour of ESPN in Bristol.
The tour is open to the public. So are hard feelings expressed into microphones.
“I don’t care whether we ever play them again,” Auriemma said in December 2014. “That game means nothing to me.”
In 2013, Tennessee coach Holly Warlick said she asked Auriemma if he wanted to play and he told her he needed an apology for UConn fans and players, Maya Moore and her mom. Warlick said she wouldn’t. A year later, Auriemma said the ugliness was water under the bridge in some ways, but it just couldn’t be “Hey, don’t worry about it.”
Has Auriemma had a change of heart about the relevance of the series? With Summitt’s death in 2016 after a brave battle with Alzheimer’s disease, had he decided that any sort of acknowledgment
from Tennessee, let alone an apology, is no longer needed?
“A lot of things were said, an awful lot of insinuations,” Auriemma said. “People have dissected it over and over. We moved on, gone our separate ways. There was no interest in my part in beating down the doors and saying ‘We have to have to have this game.’ I couldn’t care less whether we have the game or not.
“I did feel like there has got to be some sort of acknowledgment. I think you and I both know that’s probably never going to happen. No one’s going to admit to that. If the Hall of Fame hadn’t gotten involved, with the level of respect I have for them, and how the game’s going to handled, I decided it’s worth doing. The idea of anything more, I didn’t think that ever was going to happen.”
Several years ago, Auriemma talked about a phone call with Summitt in which she accused UConn of cheating in recruiting and criticized her for lacking the courage to say it in public. At the 2010 SEC media day, Summitt said, “I’ve never compromised at all (in recruiting) and I wouldn’t.” People thought she was talking about embattled Tennessee men’s coach Bruce Pearl. No, Summitt said, “I probably had Connecticut on my mind. There’s a reason we don’t play them.”
Harsh, unfair words that still cut and were never proved. Auriemma was the first to make a donation to Summitt’s foundation. There was that memorable embrace and chat with Summitt at the 2012 Final Four in Denver. Warmth between the two had returned. He said Wednesday there was no real talk about their problems.
“I think I’ve always been respectful of somebody going through a life-threatening situation; ultimately it took her life,” Auriemma said. “And you want to talk about basketball? At that point, it was pointless. It was insignificant.
“Don’t get me wrong. I was pissed then, I’m pissed now and I’ll be pissed forever at what happened. But if somebody wants to do something that benefits a good cause, let’s do it. If it was going to be ‘Let’s just play because CBS or ESPN or somebody really wants you to do this,’ I could give a spit. When it was something that can help a lot of people, let’s do it.”
Tennessee hasn’t won a national title since 2008. UConn has won six. Tennessee hasn’t been back to the Final Four since 2008. UConn has been to 11 in a row. Tennessee isn’t even the best program in the SEC anymore
The Lady Vols have lost 54 games in the six seasons since Warlick took over as head coach, bowing out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament the last two years. UConn has lost seven games during that time. The Lady Vols had a No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2017 and have a strong young team heading into 2018-19. Whatever happens, Auriemma is not looking for UConn-Tennessee to regain its place as the game’s pre-eminent rivalry.
“That’s like saying the University of Chicago should play football again for the national championship because they had a great rivalry,” Aureimma said. “Those days are over. What existed doesn’t exist today and won’t exist in the future. We have a deal to play for two years and who knows? There may be two more and there may be no more.
“The fact our game with Notre Dame probably has become the biggest game in the country, I think that’s where we are today. I could be wrong, but I don’t see it ever having the significance it used to have.”
Tennessee has been looking to opt out of a homeand-home football series and UConn is trying to at least get a big-payday, guarantee game at Knoxville. Auriemma said he knew nothing about it until it hit the papers last week.
“I would assume the people in the football office down there know where the basketball office is, but I doubt there had been conversation that this is a great thing, this is our attempt at glasnost. I have no idea what happened or where it’s going. I don’t think (Tennessee football) gives one iota what anybody else in the country thinks, basketball, men’s or women’s.”
Auriemma couldn’t resist. He said maybe it’s because he’s older and the Huskies have had a lot of success, but people are nice to him on the road these days.
“I miss the stuff I used to hear down there,” he said “This is like the final chapter. I’m going to relieve some of those moments. I had just gotten to the point where I had memorized all of ‘Rocky Top.’ I’m getting the chance to see if I know the whole song.”