When Geno Auriemma makes his third Olympic appearance with the U.S. women’s basketball team — second as a head coach — he will still run the team with his usual competitive vigor, but he’s going to leave his worries stateside.
Looking to extend Team USA’s streak to six consecutive Olympic gold medals, he said he’ll employ his past international experience to help him let go of potential stressors during his first trip to Rio de Janeiro.
“If I can get anything out of this one, it would be to really enjoy the moment more (and) not get so caught up in the what-ifs,” he said last week during a trip to the White House with his Connecticut team. “Not start to imagine — ‘Oh my God, what if this kid gets hurt? What if this one doesn’t play well? What if this one fouls out?’ — and drive yourself crazy worrying about all the what-ifs and just enjoy what is.”
Auriemma is 23-0 with the national team, which includes gold medals at the 2012 Olympics in London and at the FIBA World Championships in 2014 and 2010 — describing the latter as an unforgettable experience, winning nine games in 11 days in three cities around the Czech Republic. He also won gold as an assistant coach in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
The U.S. team has a 41-game winning streak in the Olympics, dating to the bronze medal game in Barcelona in 1992.
To travel to Rio, Auriemma will take a brief hiatus from coaching at Connecticut — where he recently won his 11th NCAA national title in 31 years with the program — but he’ll still be surrounded by Huskies. With five former UConn players on the 12-person roster, they have the rare chance to be reunited on the same team.
“It’s the icing on the cake, for sure, to be able to play for your college coach again,” three-time Olympic gold medalist and former Husky Sue Bird said at the 2016 Team USA Media Summit in March. “Once you graduate from college, it’s an opportunity you think you’ll never have again.”
Other UConn alumnae included on the Olympic team are Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart — the 2016 No. 1 WNBA draft pick who won four consecutive NCAA titles with Auriemma.
People often think so many UConn players are on his team because they played for him in college, Auriemma said. But that’s simply not the case.
“They’re on the team because they’re really good,” he said. “They’re five of the best players in the world, and not matter who is coaching, they’d be on the team. I’m just fortunate enough to be the one coaching them.”
After nearly two decades of Team USA ruling the international scene, Auriemma knows other countries are preparing to dethrone his team. But he said he’ll emphasize to his players it’s on them to prove they’re still the best in the world.
“It’s like back in the old days when the Russian Red Army team was playing ice hockey, and you say, ‘Look, you guys can be really good, but if you’re practicing, you’d better prepare to beat them,’” Auriemma said. “We’ve been so dominant in the Olympics that we’re everybody’s target, so we have to make sure we don’t go in complacent and take it for granted.”
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