"That kind of sucked": Geno Auriemma slams fans for turning UConn vs Tennessee into him vs Pat Summitt

Geno Auriemma recounted his peak rivalry days before the No. 5 UConn Huskies' matchup with No. 19 Tennessee on Thursday. Both programs were the gold standard of women's basketball in the early 1900s and 2000s, making their coaches, Auriemma and Pat Summitt, a storyline in themselves.

While Auriemma understands the role coaches play in a team's success, he said that the worst aspect of the rivalry was when fans made things more about the coaches involved.

"The worst part was when it became personal," he said in an exclusive with USA Today.

"It wasn’t Tennessee and Connecticut anymore. It was Geno-Pat. And that kind of sucked. That part sucked because it didn’t need to be that. Certainly, our fan base contributed to it. Their fan base contributed to it. I guess that’s just the nature (of a rivalry). What can you do?"

Overall, the two teams have played 26 contests, with the Huskies leading 17-9. Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma met 22 times from 1995-2007. These also included multiple national championship contests. UConn propelled in 13 of these matchups.

The Huskies and Lady Vols are two of the most successful women's basketball programs, flaunting 11 and eight NCAA titles, respectively, and combining for more than 2000 wins and less than 500 losses.

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Pat Summitt ended the matchups against Geno Auriemma

Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt put an abrupt stop to its regular battles with the UConn Huskies in 2007. While she never went public about her reasons, Auriemma believes it could be her reservations about some of his recruiting practices.

Behind talents like Candace Parker, Kara Lawson, Tamika Catchings, Maya Moore, Sue Bird, Rebecca Lobo and more, the two teams always brought some of the best players in the nation on the floor.

"If there were 30 great players in America at the time, 10 of them were on the floor in the Tennessee-Connecticut game all the time. All the time. There was no sneaking past Tennessee," Auriemma said.

Geno Auriemma's UConn and Tennessee resumed their meets in 2020 and have played four games since then. The Huskies have won all the recent contests, with the closest game being the 67-61 final score in Jan. 2021.