The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
UConn greats weigh in on Dailey’s legacy
More than a few people likely see visions of Chris Dailey standing between fiery UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and officials when they think of one of the first two assistant coaches — along with former Tennessee assistant Mickie DeMoss — set to be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.
There will be others who raise an eyebrow at the “CD rules” in place at UConn, which include — but are not limited to — having no visible tattoos during games, standing in order of height during the playing of the national anthem and players being required to stand up when they are being interviewed. However, Dailey’s true essence has always been as that of a gifted and driven basketball coach.
“It does get a little bit sideways when people latch on to something that somebody’s really good at, and Chris is always good at the things that have always been mentioned about how well she organizes what the kids do and that does get lost, the coaching aspect of it,” Auriemma said. “I saw someplace where she wants to be a party planner in her next life. If I wanted a party planner, I could find plenty of those. The fact that she’s able to connect with so many of these kids on the court, first in recruiting and then when they get here on the court, to be able to work with them ... I watch her in practice and I watch her do individuals and after all these years, her intensity level and her passion for teaching kids how to play basketball is
just as great now as it was the very first day we worked with our kids 30something years ago.
“I haven’t seen one thing that’s changed, not one bit, and it’s no accident that a lot of those kids who are playing well in the pros spent a lot of time down on her end of the court.”
Those pros happen to be some of the best post players to ever play the game. From 2001-18, 14 UConn post players have been taken in the WNBA draft.
Other than Auriemma, who would be better to reflect on Dailey’s legacy than some of her star pupils?
Tina Charles, the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, fellow lottery picks Swin
Cash and Morgan Tuck and former first-round pick Kiah Stokes weighed in on the impact Dailey has had on the UConn program and in their lives.
“The consistency, just how she wants every single player to come out of UConn as not only a great basketball player but a great woman at the same time,” Charles said. “That’s the great thing about the University of Connecticut; it’s not only about the game of basketball but the game of life and having discipline, commitment, a respect level, accountability. These are all things that I use off the court and made me into the woman that I am. Christine Dailey has been huge to me. I don’t know where I’d be without her. I don’t know if I would have still been playing at the University of Connecticut
(all four seasons) because you all knew how (the) first few years went, but she gave me confidence and allowed me to have patience. If I had class at 9 a.m., we were in the gym at 8 a.m. If we had practice at 3, I was shooting with her at 2. Just the dedication and commitment she had allowed me to be who they thought I could be.”
Auriemma and Dailey have adjusted with the times, changing UConn’s offensive and defensive systems to fit the personnel. However, they have always built the program around unselfish, multifaceted post players, from Kerry Bascom to the Rebecca Lobo/Kara Wolters “Twin Towers” tandem to the trio of Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams; the unstoppable duo of Charles and Maya
Moore; or, more recently, with players like Stefanie Dolson, Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and Gabby Williams making players around them better.
“She’s a great coach,” Tuck said. “She’s the kind of coach that has great knowledge of the game. She knows everything you need to know for basketball and she also knows how to deliver it the right way and say it the right way to get you to do it. She makes you a better player and I think the big thing is she pays attention to the details, the things that you may not think about on a post move, on a finish or how hard you’re going, I think CD is on it and all that together makes you a better player.”