Auriemma, Hatchell each reach 1,000 wins
Geno Auriemma won his 1,000th game as top-ranked Connecticut beat Oklahoma, 88-64, Tuesday night in the Hall of Fame Women’s Holiday Showcase in Uncasville, Conn.
Auriemma became the fourth women’s coach to reach the 1,000-win mark, joining Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer and Sylvia Hatchell, who earned her milestone victory earlier Tuesday. Mike Krzyzewski is the only men’s coach to have won 1,000 games.
Auriemma is the fastest to achieve the mark, doing so in his 1,135th game. The Hall of Fame coach has gone 50036 since winning his 500th game in 2003. That includes winning 100 of his past 101 contests.
Sitting by Auriemma’s side for the 1,000 wins has been associate head coach Chris Dailey. She has been with Auriemma since he took over at Connecticut in 1985. Dailey led the Huskies to seven of those victories while filling in as head coach. Auriemma was suspended for four games in 1989 for playing an extra game that season. That year, the Huskies won their first Big East Conference tournament title with Dailey at the helm.
She also coached three games when Auriemma’s father died in 1997. All seven of those wins are credited to Auriemma.
Players from Auriemma’s first team in 1985 that beat Iona for win No. 1 were in attendance and introduced to the sellout crowd. Fans held up signs that said “GEN1000 career wins.”
Auriemma was presented with his Hall of Fame jacket and a cake from Mohegan Sun where the game was played. A video was played that included tributes from former players like Breanna Stewart, who won 151 games at Connecticut — second most of all time.
“We set the bar high at UConn and you have continued to do that. I’m so happy to say that I am a part of your 1,000 wins!” Stewart said.
Carolina’s Hatchell became the third Division I women’s coach to net her 1,000th career victory earlier in the day.
Hatchell reached the milestone after her North Carolina Tar Heels beat Grambling State, 79-63, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. She is 1,000-376 in a 43-year career that started with 11 seasons at Francis Marion.
“As far as the 1,000 wins, gosh, I just can’t believe I’ve coached that many games,” said Hatchell, who has battled leukemia and was declared cancer-free in 2014.
This is her 32nd season at North Carolina, and she has led the Tar Heels to eight ACC titles, three Final Fours and the 1994 national championship.
“I still love the game. I was telling the staff before the game, ‘I still get so nervous,’” Hatchell said.
“It’s a good nervous, but I still get so nervous. And with the way we played in the first quarter, now you know why I get nervous because we didn’t start out very good at all.”
Hatchell is 728-286 with the Tar Heels, and another milestone could come later this season. She’s 11 wins shy of former Virginia coach Debbie Ryan’s record for most victories at an ACC women’s program. Hatchell is the only coach to win national titles at the AIAW, NAIA and NCAA levels, capturing the first two of those at Francis Marion in 1982 and 1986.