Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird pay emotional tributes to Geno Auriemma historical NCAA feat - “Takes you through your worst to bring out your best”

Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird paud homages to UConn's NCAA coach Geno Auriemma for etching his name in the history books. On Wednesday, the No. 2-ranked Huskies head coach recorded his 1217th win and claimed the top spot in the most wins by an NCAA basketball coach ladder.

He surpassed Tara VanDerveer (1,216) to claim the top spot, and that too in five fewer seasons. WNBA Icon Sue Bird, who also played under Auriemma during her collegiate basketball career for the Huskies, posted on her Instagram handle to pay her respects to her former coach's achievement.

Bird, a 4x WNBA champion, uploaded a picture of herself and Geno Auriemma from her time at the UConn Huskies. The WNBA icon accompanied a thoughtful caption and her post.

"Takes you through the worst to bring out your best. Salute to the new NCAA D1 Basketball Winningest Coach! 🫡"

Meanwhile, Diana Taurasi - the all-time WNBA leading scorer - was present at the UConn Huskies gym to celebrate Auriemma's achievement. Taurasi, who also played under the Huskies coach as a collegiate basketball player, gave a speech that made Auriemma emotional.

HighlightHER posted a snippet of Taurasi's speech on Instagram. In the video, the Phoenix Mercury star is seen thanking Geno Auriemma and crediting him for teaching every one of his players never to give up.

Bird, Taurasi and several UConn alum present as Geno Auriemma accepts special gift for historic milestone

Not only Geno Auriemma's former players - Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi - paid their respects to him, but so did his current players. Huskies stars Paige Bueckers, Caroline Ducharme, and Azzi Fudd gave their coach a special gift for achieving a historic milestone.

The UConn Huskies uploaded the video to their X — formerly Twitter — handle. Three basketball players gifted their coach a framed UConn Jersey with the number 1217. The number on the jersey represents the number of wins Auriemma accumulated to become the coach with the most wins in the NCAA.

In the video, the three basketball players show off the framed jersey to the camera before handing it over to their coach, who then raised it to the crowd to celebrate his moment.

This season, No. 2 UConn Huskies - under Gero Auriemma - hold a 4-0 record and lead the Big East division. On Monday at the Baha Mar Convention Center, they will take on the Oregon State Beavers (1-3) as their next opponents.