Branching out
Auriemma proud of UConn coaching tree: ‘It’s quite remarkable’
On a day when the UConn women’s basketball program was rolling through the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Huskies alumnae were flexing their coaching muscles.
At Mohegan Sun Arena, Maria Conlon’s Notre Dame-Fairfield team won the first state title in program history with a 60-45 win over No. 1 seed Newington in the CIAC Class L championship.
And in Bloomington, Indiana, Carla Berube coached Princeton to a 69-62 upset of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament.
Geno Auriemma, whose team defeated Mercer by 45 points at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday, said he touched base with Conlon after the win. She played for Auriemma from 2000-04 and worked as a graduate assistant before pursuing business ventures while doing some coaching.
“Maria was another one that I wasn’t sure where she was going in terms of the basketball future,” Auriemma said. “But Maria always had a certain attitude about her, a certain way. There was a edginess to her, as a person, as a player.
“So whatever it she was going to get involved in, she was going to be successful, and she has been successful off the basketball court, non-coaching-wise.”
Conlon became the Notre Dame coach in 2019, taking over as a head coach for the first time. Berube became head coach at Division III Tufts as age 26 and has built a successful career.
Auriemma has talked often about how quiet Berube was in college. He didn’t see her becoming a coach.
Yet she is 51-5 in two seasons at Princeton. Her team upset Kentucky, which beat No. 1 South
Carolina in the SEC Tournament.
Next up was No. 3 Indiana on Monday, with a slot in the Sweet 16 at stake. A win would move Princeton to Bridgeport for a possible meeting with UConn in the Sweet 16.
Berube got a postgame text from Sue Bird on Saturday.
“She’s part of the UConn family,” Berube said Sunday. “So we’re all pretty tight. Great ambassador for women’s basketball. And she saw the game and was really impressed. And just let me know and said good luck on Monday.”
Other members of the UConn