Geno Auriemma is one of the best basketball coaches in the history of the sport. No, you. There are no caveats about him coaching the women's game needed. His genius knows no bounds.
Anyway, the UConn coach was recently forced to publicly comment after promoting the school’s fight against more than $300 million in cuts to the state university.
“Nobody called me with death threats,” Auriemma recently said, as transcribed by The Hartford Courant. “I know, they don’t want to hear how much money I’m making. Who the hell are you? How much are we paying a women’s basketball coach? I get it. If you want me to leave, I’ll leave. Go back and play Maine and Rhode Island. I’m on the back nine now, I’m on the last three holes. I’m not worried.”
Obviously, $300 million is a lot of dough the university would prefer to have. UConn might be paying Geno Auriemma a lot of money, but it is only a small fraction of the loot the state is cutting from its funding.
The fun part in all of this, if we are being honest, is the coach saying he will just do this for free next season.
Said Auriemma: “I'll tell you what. I'll work for free next year. I'll give up what the state pays me, what the taxpayers are paying me, but guess what? I pay my taxes and I don't care how much money it costs for me to have good schools where I live in Manchester. My [adult] kids don't go to school there. I can afford it. I want to be proud of our town's education system. Why is it that older people turn their back on education when somebody paid for their kids when they were in school? We've lost sight of what we have to do for other people.”
“I do not want to come across as someone who doesn’t understand what the realities are,” Auriemma added. “Not unlike a lot of states, Connecticut is facing real issues of how to pay its obligations. Some people are going to get hurt. I don’t know if anyone is going to get helped. This is like a family issue. Everybody is going to have to suffer a little bit.”
Geno for… president?
With sincerity, here is to hoping jobs and people's lives aren't altered by the funding cut.
Follow Us
Subscribe