“They’re nuts in the stands”: When $18 million worth Geno Auriemma admitted 'feeling bad' for kids under parents’ pressure

UConn coach Geno Auriemma has sympathy for college players whose parents pressure them to perform in basketball games. He said as much in Jan 2017 while appearing on the "What Drives Winning" series with author/consultant Brett Ledbetter.

The 11-time national champion coach, whose net worth is pegged at $18 million (per Celebrity Net Worth), said there are two ways to identify parents who are heavily involved in their children's games.

First is when a parent goes crazy in the stands. The second is when their children negatively react to a situation on the floor, whether they are taken out of the game or a call that doesn't go their way.

"If you take your eyes off what's going on the court and just look up in the stands. The guys that are going crazy and you go: 'Whose father's that?' And now it's also: 'Whose mother's that?," Auriemma said (6:21).

The former Team USA coach noted that parents' reactions alone could be costly for a high school prospect. Such overreactions could turn off a future coach or a group of collegiate basketball scouts, who'll take note of it. Auriemma admitted such situations make him feel bad for the prospect.

"And everybody in there, would be 400 coaches watching. Everybody will go: 'That's the kid's family.' And everybody knows (now) and you feel bad for the kid," Auriemma said. (6:32) "That's an obvious way they're nuts in the stands. The other obvious way is the way the kid responds to what happens on the floor every call, every time the kid's taken out."

---

Geno Auriemma on how he runs UConn women's basketball

UConn coach Geno Auriemma thinks he's fortunate to run the UConn women's basketball program without any major problems or issues with the players' parents.

Auriemma, who was hired as head coach for the Huskies in 1985 and led the program to win 11 national championships, said he made it known to every stakeholder, particularly the school and the players' parents, that he'll be running a Catholic school-type of program in Storrs.

"I said I'm gonna run this program like the Catholic school program because that's the only thing I knew," he said (7:57). "We could do that we could say: 'If you don't do this, you're not playing.' It was easy and they listened and you didn't get any calls from parents because they knew."

Geno Auriemma, who will turn 71 on March 23, stayed true to his style and became the winningest college basketball coach of all time with 1,244 wins and still counting.

The No. 3-ranked UConn (31-3) completed a Big East regular season-conference tournament sweep this season. They are favored to secure one of the four No. 1 seeds in the 2025 NCAA Tournament when it will be announced on Sunday, March 16, 8 p.m. ET at ESPN.