"I wasn't good enough": Geno Auriemma unveils to Dan Hurley how his basketball journey started and roots of his hardcore coaching tactics

Geno Auriemma and Dan Hurley have made their unique marks on UConn's basketball teams. In his 40-year tenure as coach of the women's team, Auriemma has won 11 national championships, while Hurley's men's team is looking for a third straight title.

Hurley has often expressed his admiration for Auriemma, viewing him as a mentor and a coach he looks up to in his own pursuit of success, with nearly a two-decade age gap between them.

Earlier on Wednesday, the UConn Huskies YouTube channel released the first episode of "Legendary Basketball," featuring a conversation between Auriemma and Hurley. One instance in which Auriemma imparted wisdom to Hurley was when Auriemma detailed how his basketball coaching journey began.

"It wasn't until I got to high school (when I played basketball). I just wanted to play baseball all the time," Auriemma said. (1:13 mark). When I got to high school, somebody saw me playing in a pickup game, and that's kinda how it all started for me because I wasn't good enough."

"I knew I wasn't good enough. So, why do I wanna do this? I'm not that good. I'm better at that (baseball). So, I want to do that. But, I got better."

Although his basketball playing career never panned out professionally, Auriemma found his calling as a women’s college basketball tactician and is considered one of the greatest of all time in his field.

The same could be said for Hurley, who played for the Seton Hall Pirates in the '90s before becoming a head coach at St. Anthony High School immediately after.

Geno Auriemma shares where his knack for coaching hard came from

Geno Auriemma also shared how he was coached hard when he was still playing. To him, this became the foundation for his own coaching style, as he fell in love with strict mentoring, which is evident in his coaching style at UConn.

"Back in those days, everybody that was worth a damn, that was coaching, coached kids hard. I liked it. I liked being coached hard, and I liked the grind of it. I liked every day of practice. I liked that every day was a fight. Every day, you had to survive," Auriemma shared. (1:34 mark)

"I think I learned how to play and learned how to be able to play well against players better than you because of the way I was coached."

Auriemma’s rigorous coaching style has seemingly translated into success in his Huskies tenure, even up to this day. In the 2024-2025 season, his team currently holds an undefeated 8-0 Big East record.