When Geno Auriemma narrated a joke to downplay his coaching achievements: “It just seems so trivial”

UConn coach Geno Auriemma sat down with author Brett Ledbetter for an interview in an episode of "What Drives Winning" in January 2019. When Ledbetter attempted to praise Auriemma's coaching accomplishments, the Hall of Fame coach humbly diverted the conversation by telling a lighthearted joke.

Auriemma narrated a story about an incoming vice president whose mother refused to attend the inauguration ceremony, even after the vice president sent a Navy pilot to retrieve her.

"'Come on, mom, it's the vice president of the United States.' So she comes up, sits in the first row during the ceremony," Auriemma said (4:42 onwards). "He's got the Secretary of State next to her. Halfway through the ceremony, she goes, 'See that guy up there? His brother's a doctor.'"

Geno Auriemma used this story to express his views on the perception of his own coaching achievements.

"There's so much where you go, 'I could have done so much more than just coach basketball.' It just seems so trivial at times within myself," he said. "That's the biggest struggle that I have, is that I did exactly what I did when I was a kid. I took something that I was really good at, perfected it, and I have issues."

Geno Auriemma once reflected on the unrealistic bar set by his success

When it comes to the most accomplished women's college basketball coaches, Geno Auriemma's name is certainly at the top of the list.

Since taking over the UConn Huskies in 1985, Auriemma has led his team to 11 NCAA national championships — the most by any Division I coach, and it is not even close.

Needless to say, he has set the bar high, and that pressure is something he has acknowledged puts an immense amount of stress on his players and other programs.

"Success has become the only option," Auriemma said in the same converation with Brett Ledbetter (4:53). "I was just talking to somebody recently at a conference and said, 'We've set the bar so high that even we can't reach it, and that's not healthy.'"

Geno Auriemma added that to avoid burning out his players, he tries to lower the bar temporarily, then gradually increase it again without his players noticing.

"Because where we have the bar right now, they can't touch it," he said.

The UConn Huskies are hunting for their 12th national championship this season, sitting comfortably in the top 10 rankings and first in the Big East standings with a 14-0 conference record (23-3 overall).