Does the Winningest Coach in Women’s Basketball Respect Women?
- Mercedes M.
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
Geno Auriemma is no stranger to complaining when his team loses specifically to the Gamecocks. The Gamecock’s 2022 Championship win over the Huskies also drew complaints from Geno Auriemma. April 3rd’s complaints were similar. According to Geno the playing style is too physical and his team is not getting foul calls. In reality the fouls seemed to be fair and the Gamecocks just simply out played the Huskies beating them 62 to 48, securing a trip to the 2026 finals. It’s clear Dawn Staley’s success is something Geno feels threatened by. His poor sportsmanship tonight is kind of evident of this. Last year when UCONN beat South Carolina in the finals Dawn Staley lost with grace and class. She congratulated Geno and the Huskies.Â
There Are No Excuses For Geno’s Behavior
The only word Geno should have had for Dawn was congratulations, but his fragile ego wouldn’t allow him to do that. Instead he took the opportunity to ruin her moment by walking up to her in an aggressive manner post game—catching her completely off guard. The
media is referring to this as tension but it’s simply not that, it’s clear as day that this is just a daily dose of Misogynoir in women sports, and in life to be honest.Â
Auriemma’s problematic behavior towards Dawn Staley is how White men behave when Black people, especially Black women achieve something that they think they should have won. That is called privilege. He feels so entitled to win that he can’t even fathom that he disrespected not only Dawn, but his Black players as well. Dawn has created something special in South Carolina and Geno has thrown jabs on the media more than once over the years. But his attack on her last night was absolutely an example of White male fragility.Â
Geno attempted to manipulate the media with false accusations about South Carolina. In an interview with Holly Rowe, he criticized the officiating overlooking fouls and referenced that a Gamecock player ripped Sarah Strong’s jersey.
The footage clearly shows Sarah ripping her own jersey out of frustration. He then dramatically described Dawn as this villain on the sideline who’s cursing and ranting. Meanwhile, there is footage of him cursing and ranting on the sideline as well. It’s a part of the game, it’s fine when he does it. But when Dawn does it, he attempts to use it against her in an interview to paint a picture of this cursing coach who doesn’t respect the refs and it’s absolutely by design.Â
Geno was wrong but he knows he stands inside an incredible bubble of privilege. When he disrespected Dawn Staley, he disrespected women’s basketball. Geno owes Dawn Staley an apology.
