“Kind of at the downside of my career at UConn”: When Geno Auriemma got 100% real about 'separating' his personal and professional life

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma is the winningest coach in the history of the sport. However, if you thought basketball was the entirety of Auriemma’s life, that would not capture the whole story.

Speaking on “What Drives Winning” in 2018, Auriemma, joined by then Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens, shared how he’s always found a way to break away from basketball. He also discussed how he knows the end of his time at UConn is drawing closer:

“It never has been (a 365-day job) for me and I hope it never will be. I’m kind of towards the downside of my career now at UConn anyway. I’ve always tried to separate my personal life, my home life, from my professional life, that’s my basketball career." (10:54).

Auriemma took the head coaching job at Storrs in 1985. Almost 40 years and more than 1,200 wins later, the UConn head coach is still going strong. He’s led the Huskies to the Final Four in three of the last four seasons.

As for the reason he stays away from basketball while he’s not on the court, Geno Auriemma said it helps him get ready for the next challenge.

“By going away from it completely, when I come back to it, I’m ready to go. So I don’t get up every morning for 12 months of the year living, eating breathing the game,” Geno Auriemma added.

Flash forward to March Madness in 2025 and the Huskies are a second seed and among the favorites to battle for the national title. They will open the tournament on Saturday morning against Arkansas State.

Geno Auriemma asks for excellence from his teams

During that same talk, the UConn head coach also shared how he kept his teams motivated, especially during a time in which the Huskies used to be far and away the best team in college basketball.

Auriemma shared that he would always try to push the team to sustain that excellence for as long as they could:

“For me, it’s always reminding them at practice that the game is to be played a certain way. And it’s not possible to play that way for 40 minutes of every day, every practice. It’s not possible. But I think the pursuit of finding out how long can we sustain this is something that I pose to them all the time."

The Huskies have won 11 national titles since 1995 and are still one of the premiere basketball programs in the country.