The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A return engagement
UConn hopes to be back on campus by late July
UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma is still operating as if school will start on schedule in late August, but each passing week brings about new questions and concerns.
“How do you know you’re even going to be able to fly all your players in, depending on where they live?,” he asked rhetorically. “School starts, how are certain teams going to come here and play if they come from a state that’s been severely impacted? I don’t know. I don’t know anything about anything.”
Speaking to reporters Wednesday on Zoom, Auriemma said he hopes to have all 10 players back on campus by July 26. Like other student-athletes, they’ll need to test negative for COVID-19 and quarantine upon arrival before they are cleared to practice in small groups.
However, certain issues may complicate this plan, especially for those traveling from outside the United States — rising sophomore Anna Makurat (Poland) and freshmen Aaliyah
Edwards (Canada) and Nika Muhl (Croatia).
“You would think something as simple as go to the Canadian border and drive across, well those days are over. That’s an issue,” Auriemma said, referring to Edwards. “Nika needs to fly over from Zagreb. Well the U.S. embassy hasn’t been open, so getting a visa has become a real problem.
They’re not letting interna- tional flights come into the U.S. except for citizens of the United States. So Anna’s not going to have an easy time.
“These issues have been really, really difficult to overcome.”
Given that, Auriemma said the school is communi- cating with Connecticut’s
congressional delegation to see if they can ease travel issues for international students.
“Professional athletes have no problem traveling back and forth,” Auriemma noted. “So we started asking questions, why is that? We’ve got some really good people in Washington, D.C., looking into how do we do that for international students, not just athletes, but kids who have enrolled here and are going to school. What’s the issue here? Why can’t we get that resolved, because they don’t make 20 million dollars a year playing in the NBA, Major League Baseball, or the NHL, whatever the case may be?”
UConn began allowing men’s basketball players back on campus June 19. Football players were eligible to return starting Wednesday. Auriemma preferred a later date.
“I didn’t want them here any earlier,” Auriemma said. “You can’t work with players until July 20 anyway, so why bring them here in June?”
Players are working out on their own, but they’ve stayed in contact via Zoom. Auriemma has also been meeting once a week with his upperclassmen — juniors Evina Westbrook,
Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Christyn Williams — about taking on a larger leadership role.
“It’s been really, really good because we’re trying to teach them how to do the things we’ve talked about with their teammates, and what we’re going to need from them when they do get here,” Auriemma said.
Whenever the season does begin, the Huskies will be back in the Big East. Wednesday marked the school’s official return following seven seasons in the American Athletic Conference.
“I’ve kind of felt like we were in the conference from the time we had the press conference in New York City [last June],” Auriemma said. “I kind of felt like that was the day we officially joined the Big East. … It just felt like all this time we’ve actually been in the league.
“Now that it’s official, there’s no going back. They can’t change their mind.”
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Auriemma lauded his former and current players who have spoken out against racism in wake of George Floyd’s death.
“Our players are very passionate individuals,” he said. “That’s why they were able to accomplish the things that they were able to accomplish when they were here. That’s why they were able to be as good as they are at any professional level.
“There’s more to them than just being a basketball player. If there’s one thing I’m really proud of, it’s that when kids come to school here … our kids grew up while they were here. They learned how to fight for things. They learned how to stand up for what they believed in. They were allowed to have a voice when they were here.”
Former Huskies Renee Montgomery and Tiffany Hayes are among the WNBA players planning to skip the 2020 season to fight for social justice reform.
STIR CRAZY
Auriemma, 66, has spent most of the offseason golfing and binge watching the TV show “24.” It didn’t take long for boredom to set in.
“This is the longest time I’ve been in one place in my life,” said Auriemma, who is approaching his 35th season at the helm. “I’ve been in Connecticut since the middle of March. If this is what retirement is like, I’ve got no time for this, man. I’m not ready for this. No way, no how. I can’t do this. Man, I need to get going here, we’ve got to start moving here.”