{"id":60553,"date":"2012-05-24T11:49:19","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T15:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=60553"},"modified":"2012-06-05T09:55:57","modified_gmt":"2012-06-05T13:55:57","slug":"a-president-and-a-coach-talk-womens-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/05\/a-president-and-a-coach-talk-womens-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"A President and a Coach Talk Women’s Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, women\u2019s collegiate athletics took a back seat to men\u2019s sports \u2013 and sometimes didn\u2019t even get a seat at all. That has begun to change in recent years and, as we look toward the future, a key consideration for colleges and universities is examining what can be done to further showcase women\u2019s athletics and build on the growing momentum behind them.<\/p>\n

To that end, on May 8, the University of Connecticut announced the most expansive broadcasting deal in the nation for a women\u2019s college basketball program \u2013 or, for that matter, any women\u2019s collegiate sport: over the next four years, UConn women\u2019s basketball games and related programming will be seen on the SNY network, reaching Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania. This will allow the team to reach nearly 14 million viewers \u2013 and more fans than ever before throughout the region and even the nation, thanks to satellite services.<\/p>\n

Prior to this, the women\u2019s games were broadcast on Connecticut\u2019s public television station \u2013 a great venue run by great people, for sure \u2013 but UConn felt women\u2019s basketball and women\u2019s sports generally deserved as large an audience as we could provide. It is this kind of step that will help fuel the rise of women\u2019s athletics, reach more fans and generate more interest in and exposure to women\u2019s sports across the board. The same exact circumstances probably cannot be duplicated by colleges elsewhere, but identifying more avenues to promote women\u2019s athletics \u2013 whatever the medium or partnership \u2013 can be.<\/p>\n

Shortly before this was announced, I sat down for a conversation with one of the people who has helped to dramatically raise the profile of women\u2019s sports across the nation: UConn women\u2019s head basketball coach Geno Auriemma. There are few better sources on this issue; he has coached the team for 27 years and led them to seven national titles, and will be coaching the U.S. women\u2019s basketball team in the Olympics this summer.<\/p>\n

\"UConn's<\/a>
UConn's women's basketball team has set an impressive example for female athletes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My first question was about how far women\u2019s athletics have come in the more than 30 years he has been coaching. I had the impression that, in the 1970s, women playing sports was generally seen as a nice way for \u201cthe ladies\u201d to get some exercise and fresh air \u2013 not taking their ability seriously \u2013 while for men, it was a true competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, there was definitely a low appreciation for women as athletes,\u201d said Auriemma. \u201cSports weren\u2019t looked upon as something women should really be doing, much less doing well. The rules in basketball were even such that women could only play half-court. There was a feeling that women were not worthy of, nor were they capable of, the kind of physical demands running up and down the floor might entail.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is clearly no longer the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, a woman in high school or college might play basketball, but they would also maybe be playing softball or field hockey as well,\u201d he said. \u201cWhereas now, a lot of girls in high school may focus on only one sport, so they develop skills that didn\u2019t exist before. It\u2019s also much more inclusive now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geno, by necessity, focuses on coaching players, building their skills and winning games. As an educator and university president, I focus on the larger picture of women\u2019s athletics in the context of higher education. So something I devote a lot of thought to is the fact that female college basketball players are sometimes more academically successful than male players, nationwide. I asked Auriemma why he thinks this may be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of guys, early in high school, are told that whatever sport they play is what is going to define them,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd time and effort is put into cultivating them as athletes \u2013 because of what their futures may hold \u2013 while academics become secondary. So some guys have the wrong model to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you\u2019re a 9th-grade girl and you\u2019re a pretty good basketball player, do you think that many people really care about what comes next for you as an athlete?\u201d he asks. \u201cWomen in college have the mentality of, \u2018If I don\u2019t go to class, I\u2019m in big trouble.\u2019 There\u2019s this conscientiousness because they see it as being their responsibility and they owe it to their teammates and their families to do well in school. They were probably like that in high school. For some young men, particularly those from a poor background, basketball can save them, to a certain extent. There isn\u2019t really that same mentality for a young woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

With women\u2019s sports on the rise \u2013 there are now nearly 200,000 female athletes on NCAA teams \u2013 colleges and universities have an opportunity to seek greater exposure for female athletics and place a new emphasis on bringing women\u2019s sports to fans. Yet, one comment sometimes heard from fans is that they don\u2019t find watching women\u2019s college basketball games, for example, to be as interesting as watching the men\u2019s games. Women can\u2019t pull off some of the same feats that men can, like dunking the ball, for example. Auriemma\u2019s response:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you see sports as just entertainment, then you want to watch a men\u2019s game because they\u2019re doing some incredible things most of us could never hope to do,\u201d he said. \u201cYou aren\u2019t going to get that on the women\u2019s side so you need to look for other reasons to watch the game. The pure athleticism of the players is a good reason. There is a huge focus on skill and teamwork that can be very compelling to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking as someone who remembers being an 18- or 19-year-old guy, the male ego can be driven by individual achievement, so a guy playing basketball can occasionally be restless and revved up to do his thing and might sometimes see the team as holding him back,\u201d said Auriemma. \u201cWhereas women generally are more team-oriented, and because of that, it can be a more fluid game to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clues as to how those of us in higher education can increase support for burgeoning women\u2019s sports may be found in the fans who attend the games already.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe women\u2019s games are in a way more family-oriented,\u201d said Auriemma. \u201cIf you\u2019re a guy and you have four tickets to a men\u2019s game, the odds are you might call three of your buddies, grab dinner and go to the game. But if you\u2019ve got four tickets to a women\u2019s game, parents are more likely to bring their kids instead. It becomes a family day out. And if someone is the parent of young daughters, it\u2019s a great way to expose them to athletics and successful young women competing with one another. The players can set a great example.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also noticed that the overall atmosphere of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s games are different; with men\u2019s games the feeling is more loud and intense, while women\u2019s games tend to be more calm \u2013 but still fun \u2013 which may also suit a different fan base.<\/p>\n

As a president, I\u2019m incredibly proud of the achievements of our men\u2019s basketball team and every men\u2019s sport; they more than deserve the attention and accolades they receive. At the same time, it\u2019s clear that women \u2013 and women\u2019s collegiate athletics \u2013 have come a long way in recent decades, but have still not gained the same notice as their male counterparts.<\/p>\n

Further emphasizing the abilities of female athletes and showcasing women\u2019s sports is an excellent way for colleges and universities to give women the recognition they deserve and, in the process, gain additional perspectives about the intersection of athletics, academics and teamwork. The bottom line \u2013 and the driving force behind UConn’s decision to partner with the SNY network for women\u2019s basketball \u2013 is that when people get to see women\u2019s athletics, new fans can be created and more existing fans have a chance to enjoy it. Maybe for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article by President Susan Herbst appeared in Thursday’s edition of Inside Higher Education. In it, she and head women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma discuss the state of women’s athletics at UConn and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":60567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[56],"class_list":["post-60553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 23:32:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60553"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60921,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60553\/revisions\/60921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/60567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60553"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=60553"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=60553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}