When debating excellence, the old GOAT argument, sports fans love to toss around numbers. This many titles won, that many points scored. Well, here’s a statistic to consider: Student athletes from the UConn women’s basketball team have been named the Academic All-American of the Year four times. No school can claim more. Eight Huskies have been named Academic All-Americans a total of 14 times since 1985, when head coach Geno Auriemma and associate head coach Chris Dailey ’99 MA arrived together in Storrs and began to build something truly special. The pair also has consistently achieved a graduation rate on par with the best in the country.
Which is not to discount all those other numbers. For the record, they include 49 conference regular season and tournament championships; 20 Final Four appearances (including 12 in a row); 13 National Player of the Year honorees; 11 national championships; six perfect seasons; six Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductions (Auriemma in 2006, Rebecca Lobo in 2010, Jennifer Rizzotti in 2013, Kara Wolters in 2017, Dailey in 2018, and Swin Cash in 2020); and two enshrinements in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Auriemma and Lobo).
Amid their unprecedented run, college basketball’s dynamic duo quietly reached another milestone this season: 35 years of coaching together.
