Geno Auriemma Comments on UConn Fans, Criticism of Program

As he prepares his team to win a fourth consecutive national championship, Connecticut women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma took the program's fans to task for believing no other team provides a challenge to the Huskies. 

Speaking on the Grantland's The Lowe Post podcast, via ESPN.com, the outspoken Auriemma didn't hold back after he was asked about his program's dominance:

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Some of our fans are so f------ stupid it's unbelievable. They complain a lot of times that we have no competition and it's boring. Then if we play a really good team and don't play our A-game, they bitch that something's wrong with UConn: "This kid's not any good. That kid's not any good. Geno Auriemma got outcoached by this coach." It's unbelievable.

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Auriemma also railed against a WNBA coach he claims doesn't like UConn because it gets "the best players and they kill everybody," saying that is "ignorant" on the WNBA coach's part because the Huskies get two or three incoming freshman when there are a total of 20 who make the first-team All-American team. 

"What happens to the other 17 guys," Auriemma said. "So obviously we're doing something a little different than just getting the best players. No. 1, we get the right players, and we try to do the right thing by them."

For whatever reason, it's fashionable to tear down great things, whether it is in sports or pop culture. The Connecticut women's basketball program has been the standard by which all other programs are measured, winning nine national titles since 2000. 

Auriemma is right to defend his program against any detractors, because there isn't a coach or player who would bypass the success if given the opportunity. He may not have needed to use the words he did to call out a subset of UConn fans, but winning breeds arrogance. 

Until the Huskies don't win a championship, there are going to be a lot more fans who think the way that Auriemma doesn't want them to right now.