Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma issued a second apology Tuesday night for his behavior after the Huskies’ loss to South Carolina in the Final Four last week.
This time he mentioned Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley by name, something he did not do the first time he apologized for a heated confrontation between the two of them after Friday’s game.
“This morning, Dawn Staley and I spoke about our interaction after the game last Friday,” Auriemma wrote in a statement posted on X by the Huskies. “I apologized to Dawn, her staff and her team. I’ve lost more games in the Final Four than any coach in history. But Friday I lost something more important. I lost myself.
“Those who know me know I have nothing but respect and admiration for the game and the coaches who coach it. Dawn and her team deserved to win, and they deserved better from me.
“Women’s basketball deserved better. My university, my athletes, my former players and our fans deserved better.
“Dawn and I have agreed to move on, and we hope the focus will shift back to the growth in women’s basketball. The game deserves it.”
Auriemma’s Connecticut squad defeated South Carolina in the 2025 NCAA finals for the Huskies’ (and Auriemma’s) 12th national title and had won 54 straight games going into Friday’s national semifinal against the Gamecocks. That made the game’s outcome, a 62-48 South Carolina blowout win, pretty shocking.
As the game was ending, an argument broke out between Auriemma — who has more wins than any coach in college basketball — and Staley — who has led the Gamecocks to three national titles — as they met on the sideline to shake hands. The coaches were separated by staff members and officials.
Afterward, Auriemma suggested he was upset with Staley because she did not meet him at midcourt to shake hands after the player introductions and before the start of the game, as coaches are directed to do in the NCAA’s operations manual for the tournament.
“I waited there for like three minutes,” Auriemma told reporters.
ESPN did show footage of the two coaches shaking hands on the sideline earlier in the pregame.
“If I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did,” Staley told ESPN during a postgame interview. “I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn’t know. I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff’s hand. I don’t know what he came with after the game, but, hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.”
The next morning, the Huskies posted Auriemma’s first apology on X.
“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina. It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut,” Auriemma wrote. “I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina. It was uncalled for in how I reacted. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”
On Tuesday morning — two days after South Carolina’s 79-51 loss to UCLA in the championship game — Staley released a statement through the team’s X account saying it’s time to put the Auriemma matter to rest.
“With the college women’s basketball season behind us, it’s time to move forward and close the chapter on how our semifinal game with UConn ended,” Staley wrote. “I spoke with Geno and I want to be clear — I have a great deal of respect for him and what he’s meant to the game. One moment doesn’t define a career and it doesn’t change the impact he’s had on growing women’s basketball.
“The standard at UConn is what it is because of him, and that’s something this game has benefited from. So, I’m asking everyone to turn the page. Let’s refocus on what matters most — continuing to elevate our game, creating opportunities and pushing it forward. That’s always been my mission, and it’s not changing.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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