Geno Auriemma Says He Previously Nearly Left UConn Women's Basketball Team

Having already conquered the women's game, Connecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma nearly made the jump to the men's game more than a decade ago. 

In an interview with Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari on his Cal Cast podcast (h/t Excelle Sports' Nick Forrester), Auriemma said he had a job with a men's college team lined up before deciding against taking it:

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I had until midnight to make a decision. And I thought I had made the decision, and at the last minute my daughter especially talked me out of it. And I don’t know why, it just was a family thing. But I was ready to go.

I was ready to go from here to go coach a men's team. I knew what my staff was going to be, I knew exactly what it was going to look like. And it was something that I wanted to do. Against the advice of a lot of men's coaches that I respect who said, 'You’re out of your mind. Why would you get involved in this mess?'

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The idea of Auriemma leaving UConn is an intriguing what if—and one many of his fellow coaches would likely prefer, given the Huskies' dominance. But the 62-year-old is arguably better off staying in Storrs, Connecticut.

Auriemma has built a dynasty unlike any other in college basketball history, with the possible exception of John Wooden's UCLA Bruins in the 1960s and '70s.

On Tuesday night, the UConn women beat South Florida 102-37 to earn its 90th win in a row, tying an NCAA record it had previously set.

Auriemma would almost certainly earn more if he were to coach a men's team.

In 2013, he agreed to an extension with UConn through 2017-18 that will pay him a maximum of $2.4 million in the final year. Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski, meanwhile, is the highest-paid men's coach and earns a little under $7.3 million this season. Kevin Ollie, who coaches the Huskies men's team, makes $3.1 million.

Speaking to USA Today's Erik Brady and Steve Berkowitz in 2015, though, Auriemma said his salary wasn't of great concern to him:

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On the women's side, there isn't the same kind of revenue. We aren't getting a part of the CBS contract that March Madness brings. We're at a different level. I don't ever use that Title IX crap about how I should get paid what Kevin gets paid because we do the same job. I've never bought into that or believed that for one moment since I started coaching.

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Money isn't everything. Pat Summitt's coaching legacy is no less great because she never left Tennessee, and the same will apply to Auriemma should he finish his career with the Huskies.