Geno Auriemma's Racial Comments are Disturbing

Jeff KalafaApr 7, 2009

University of Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma turned amateur sociologist the other day and issued some controversial statements relating to the Stanford Cardinal, his Final Four opponent.

On the brink of the UConn Women's sixth national championship, Aueriemma apparently tried to fire his team up and here's what he said:

"I know I'm going to get criticized for this. White kids are always looked upon as being soft. So Stanford's got a tremendous amount of really good players who, for whatever reason, because they don't look like Tina Charles or Maya Moore, the perception out there is that they must be soft."

Aureimma, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and six-time National Naismith Coach of the year, continued: "Well, I think that's a bunch of bull. I watched them play and nobody goes harder to the boards. Nobody takes more charges. Nobody runs the floor as hard. Those kids are as tough as any of the kids in the country. But people in their sports world like to make judgements by how they look and it's grossly unfair."

Auriemma, who leads his leads his 38-0 UConn Women against Louisville 34-4 tonight, apparently questioned the legitimacy of his own remarks when he led off with the disclaimer.

Yes Geno, you are going to get criticized for issuing stereo-types that have no place in the context of a college basketball game. Anyone issuing stereo-types, and claiming they are fact, sounds stupid in any forum.

About the white girls on Stanford; Who would think they're soft? They made it to the Final Four!

If you're telling us that you're first reaction is to think white girls are probably softer than Tina Charles and Maya Moore - that's you're problem Geno.

And Geno, don't start telling us "people in sports like to make judgements by how they look". You don't speak for everyone and if this is some tactic to get your team's attention - it's a cheap one!

You're not a sociologist Geno and the university you represent should be a little concerned about the way you choose to express yourself.

Your associate, Jim Calhoun, quite possibly made some recruiting violations but I don't think he carries a DVD of "White Men Can't Jump" in his pocket so he can show it to his team before games against teams with a majority of white kids.

And Geno, you're certainly not the first one to claim that "institutional racism" is prevalent in society! Does it appear on the basketball court? I don't think so. Thankfully, you win baseketball games by outscoring the other guy and not by out-assuming him or her.

You get to the Final Four by winning and along the way, Stanford probably beat a couple of teams that have players that DO look like Tina Charles and Maya Moore!

Aueriemma went on to put his foot all the way down his throat when he finished by saying "So those West Coast People, you know what, the West Coast in general has a reputation of being soft. But that's to the East Coast People."

No Geno, that's just to you but I'm sure you could find plenty of other clowns that would agree. There out there. We know.