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From inside the press conference room in Phoenix, the feeling permeating the room was not animosity but confusion.
Geno Auriemma had entered the Final Four on another undefeated streak and exited in shame. The legendary UConn head coach lost his temper in the waning moments of a beatdown at the hands of the Gamecocks, and showed an unusual lack of grace, berating rival coach Dawn Staley for purportedly disrespecting him during the customary pregame handshake.
The problem for Auriemma was that cameras caught the two shaking hands. As that footage trickled onto the social media feeds of reporters in the presser, Auriemma was repeatedly asked versions of the question, “What on Earth are you talking about?” Folks genuinely wanted to give Geno a chance to explain himself. Because neither his behavior nor his stubborn tantrum about being upstaged during a handshake made any sense, even given his past feuds with other coaches during his UConn tenure.
When a reporter told Auriemma of the video showing he and Staley in fact shaking hands, Auriemma claimed we all didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Given the chance to elaborate or specify the issue, Auriemma demurred.
Geno was also caught in a fabrication over the crux of his issue with Staley during the game, which he shared with ESPN’s Holly Rowe at halftime. Auriemma accused Staley of shouting profanities at the officials and swaying the way the game was being called. The example he gave was that his star forward, Sarah Strong, was being defended so physically that her jersey had been torn up.
But inside that same press conference room moments before Auriemma fielded questions, Strong had confirmed to reporters what our eyes already told us: That she had torn her own jersey in frustration after a missed first-half shot attempt.
Was Geno lying or just explaining himself poorly? Reporters in Phoenix tried desperately to understand. One scrum in a hallway loudly discussed whether there was a second, unknown customary handshake between coaches.
Around the country, though, the rest of the media knew what it had seen. In a somewhat unusual pattern, columnists and podcast hosts around the country roundly shredded Auriemma while the in-person contingent pressed for answers. The tide turned on Auriemma before his weak response had even been published.
Perhaps we should have expected this, given that ESPN’s postgame show slammed Auriemma as soon as it went to air. Credit to Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike, and the show’s production staff for disproving Auriemma’s claims with video evidence, then sharply criticizing him for allowing his temper to overshadow the game’s biggest stage and Friday’s winning teams.
By the time Auriemma apologized on Saturday, still without mentioning Staley by name, it was too late. Most of the top opinion writers and sports commentators had come out against him. The tide had turned against the most famous figure in women’s college basketball, a favorite across the media.
Auriemma has clashed with rivals before and lost his cool just a week ago toward the NCAA and tournament organizers. But this was different: Outlandish behavior, blatant lying, and an ugly loss.
The easy bet is that UConn will be right back in the Final Four next year, and the run of dominance in Storrs will continue. But the cracks are showing in the media’s support for Auriemma.
No matter how hard the women’s college basketball media contingent looked for answers in Phoenix on Friday, they could not find an answer that made Auriemma look like anything but the poor loser and unprofessional bully he was that night.
