The women's basketball version of "he said/she said" finally took on a little substance Tuesday.
For months Tennessee coach Pat Summitt refused to answer why she canceled the annual rivalry series with UConn and deferred all explanations to Huskies' head coach Geno Auriemma. But for every "Ask Geno, he knows," that Summitt spit forth, Auriemma would respond, "Ask Pat."
Until Tuesday's news conference to wrap up the 2007-08 UConn season, that is.
Pressed several times to comment on rumors created by the public silence of the two coaches, Auriemma finally responded.
"She accused me of cheating in recruiting, but she doesn't have the courage to say it publicly," Auriemma said. "So yeah. Geno does know. I've said it."
"There are a lot of things I know about a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I cancel the series. But this is the same person who said that if the Duke fans don't treat her players right, she was going to cancel that series. So if people don't stop misbehaving, she is going to play only regular season scheduled conference games. Unless that starts to bug her."
IMHO, Geno needs to be nominated for the Massengill Douche Bag Award.
4 comments:
that doesn't surprise me. uconn has always seemed like a team to cheat over the last 8 years. i knew there was a reason why i didn't like them. besides the fact they aren't tenn. GO VOLS!!
Seemed like a team to cheat? But, of course, you have no evidence. I think I get it, UConn must cheat, how else could a male coach become so successful in the female dominated world of WCBB? Whatever...
What I don't get is why Geno seems to want Pat to call him a cheater in public. Seems to me a)she doesn't need to--the facts as they present themselves seem to already bear that out; b)she's trying to keep this mellow, he's stirring things up and making it personal, then blaming the press (whom he's been using to get his personal jabs in) of being the ones who won't let it go; c)he's accusing her of being passive aggressive and "blaming others for what's going on"---hello Mr. Pot calling the kettle black. I'm a UConn fan from way back, but I do have to say Geno's conduct through this whole thing has left me cold. If he wants the press to let it die, he should set the example for them to follow and shut up, let his coaching record and players' game do the talking.
I think the way Pat Summitt has handled things publicly with this is classy. Just my two cents.
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