"Had no idea where we were going": Despite 12 NCAA titles at UConn, Geno Auriemma explains why this national championship made him happiest

Geno Auriemma led UConn to its record-extending 12th national title on Sunday when the Huskies beat South Carolina 82-59 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. While Auriemma has many honors to choose from, he was most delighted with this year's championship success.

A day after his historic triumph, Auriemma appeared on "TODAY" on Monday and spilled the beans on why he was the "happiest," with his most recent title-winning squad.

"Well, because the way we started it," Auriemma said. "I had no idea where we were going. We were so up and down, and we had so many new faces that we were trying to incorporate. Really young kids coming into the program, and I could just never get a grip, I could never get a feel." [0:28]

"Every time I thought we had something, it kinda spilled away. So, it's just been the last two months, maybe the South Carolina game that we played down there, where we came back home and we felt like, 'This is who we could be, this is the standard now and we can't deviate from this.'

"And they all locked in, they all bought into it. I think they came back feeling like, 'Well, coach has been on about this, this and this. Now we see why.' And they've just made it easy for me to coach them in the last two months."

Along with his 12 national championships, Auriemma has also led UConn to 24 regular-season titles and 23 Big East conference tournament titles. He is also the winningest coach in college basketball history with 1,250 wins.

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Geno Auriemma wants to continue coaching at UConn amid rumors of retirement

UConn HC Geno Auriemma (Credits: IMAGN)

Despite recently concluding his 40th season as UConn's head coach, Geno Auriemma has no plans of retiring. The 71-year-old appeared on "Good Morning America" on Monday and said he was more motivated to continue coaching after watching Paige Bueckers leave the court.

"Yes, your age is changing, but I don’t think you’re getting old," Geno Auriemma said. "You’re not losing your enthusiasm ... So who knows when you wake up one morning and say, 'That’s it, I’m done.'

"But right now, I’m more motivated by what happened last night when Paige Bueckers walked off the court. I didn’t wake up this morning feeling any different because we have 12 instead of 11, but I know if she does wake up, she’ll feel a lot different than she did before yesterday."

Auriemma is the oldest coach to win a national title, beating Tara VanDerveer's record when she was 67 in 2021, winning it with Stanford. Nonetheless, it's safe to assume that Auriemma will be targeting his 13th national title next season.