Geno's Legacy - The Coaches"},"lengthSeconds":"1517","ownerProfileUrl":"http://www.youtube.com/chann

Hi, I'm Gina Oriemma, we are very proud of the program we have created in Connecticut. This show is about the very special women who have made Uconn basketball what it is today. I'm joined by Chris Daley, my associate head coach, who has been with me since I started Shay Ralph, captain of the 2000 national championship team and now one of my assistants, and Jamel Elliott, one of our only four players in history. from uconn who has over a thousand points and a thousand rebounds, also one of my assistants and now head women's coach. at the university of cincinnati well here we are chris daley associate head coach at the university of connecticut jemele elliott head coach at the university of cincinnati and shay ralph assistant head coach at the university of connecticut assistant head coach she is a coach at associate head coach just gave you a The new title, yes, it comes with the raise, you may one day become associate head coach, so we have head coach, associate head coach, assistant head coach, congratulations, Hey, thanks, this is the first time I'm hearing about this.

Yeah, I was speechless, obviously, you know. For obvious reasons we have to start again here or it will be a long interview from the beginning from 1985 until now, when you think about 1985, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Our office and how small it was, how um, we just didn't really have much to begin with and how you didn't tell me the truth when you recruited me, it's the same as when you recruited them, some things never changed. of beautifying some areas and ignoring the rest, so why did you come to Connecticut before I asked them why they came to Connecticut?

I came to Connecticut because you challenged me. I was working at Rutgers. I played there. I had trained there and you challenged me. I see you know you've already done it as a player and a coach let's see what we can build in Connecticut and I felt like professionally that would help me in the future when I got my own program and I would know more. you would know how to do it from ground level and could be better prepared. I think it was something like not being a big baby for the rest of your life and staying home okay and the fact that my dad said it's not nice, you can come home whenever you want, that was helpful, I said grow up, it almost happened. the first summer because he was upset during camp and if I could have packed all my things that night and gone home, I would.

Have I done everything I can to get her to go home? So when you were recruited and when you were recruited it was completely different. I think our shows were in two completely different eras at the time. What did it mean to you to be drafted by Connecticut at that time, to me, you know you guys were just coming off your first final four in 1991 and you know I wanted to get away from home being from inner city Washington DC and I really enjoyed my relationship with you and chris daley and I believed in you and your vision and I trusted that you would make me the best player I could be and you know I really enjoyed our relationship I thought she was genuine and you know I just believed in you and she helped me Kinda that I thought she was cute back then, except back then I didn't anymore, so when Ced and I got to your school and we were the only white people at school and we walked next to you and you pretended like you weren't .

He didn't know us and he didn't see us when it was so raw that was just your way of saying I think it's cute is that what you're saying well, in the past, you know, the kids said today I had to keep my booty, I could No let people know that he was actually friends with her, she walked past us and I think it was her, he actually said yes, that was her, you know, but the rest is history, the rest is history, you were recruited lightly because you're undersized you were the national player of the year in high school coming out of high school two completely different situations would you remember that first year when you were a little bit of a problem kid for us to coach in college? from Connecticut, do you want to remember something?

What do I have to do with our recruitment? Could you tell the fans about the issues that happened during your first year that made C.D and I reevaluate whether we wanted to stay? In training, did you encounter the problem that you guys were much nicer on the phone than when I got there? They were much better players watching them from the stands than coaching them, so I want you to know what I remember thinking. Is this the same CD? Is this Coach Daley? The same person who was on the phone with me because this is no different, but the problem was that I didn't want to practice a lot and it wasn't necessarily difficult, I thought.

It was hard, but we practiced for an hour in high school, so once an hour was up, I was like, "Okay, you know what I've done, so I'll just run around a little bit and it was a definite adjustment, but you did it." you set it up really well when you benched me in Rhode Island, I'll never forget it and you didn't tell me so I clearly hadn't been practicing well and it was early in the season and you put everyone in the game and we were winning by 30 or 40 It wasn't even halftime, but everyone comes into the game, so I'm usually the sixth player off the bench, so I think you put Paige or someone first and I was like, okay, I'll be there. , then someone else, then you set the stage and I was like this, at halftime he said, here's this question, he comes in, you know, shaking his head, how many points did you score in that half?

I mean, clearly, none? I was on the bench how many shots did you get? how many rebounds do you get now I'm mad, I'm mad because he knows what he's doing and he said "that's how many you got in the last three weeks of practice" and I know how funny that is, At that point you can't get angry because he was right, so I had a chance to play in the second half. She did it and almost had a triple-double. How did you feel when you became seniors? and all those expectations were placed on you by the coaching staff did it make you proud did it make you feel oh my god this is more pressure were you worried scared were you okay I think we were ready I think those first two years were yours? freshman and sophomore you have good leadership and rebecca and and pam and those guys and then cd you know let us know the dos and don'ts of Connecticut basketball and you know it and then you accept it you know it suddenly like a junior you start to take over you know this is my team and you know especially with me my junior year you know my Rebecca and Pam were seniors just coming off a national championship and you know you asked if it was pressure that I felt pressure because you know being in the next class after your seniors leave after winning the national championship now all of a sudden that competitiveness comes up like okay I would love to come out on top just like the senior class did. year before me, so it was kind of pressure and I think looking back it probably affected my game a little bit because I wanted it so much for myself and for Jen and Kim, but at the same time I think I became a better leader.

You know, I went from barking to just wanting. things to do well to understand that not everyone can handle it you know you get yelled at you know people are motivated and you have to treat them differently so it became a maturity thing for me everywhere do you remember how exhausted you were It was me? and jen in the locker room after we beat Vanderbilt to get back into the final four and I remember you two were so exhausted and you said this was really hard, yeah, yeah, that was really hard and I think Jen and I had a goal, you know?

We knew we had to get to the final four for us if we didn't get back to the final four, it was a bust, you know, and I had been part of a Connecticut program where you knew the final four at the '91 national championship in 95. When you get to 96, you're a senior, if you make anything less than a final four, you personally feel like you let the program down and I think Jen and I had that on our shoulders for a whole year and I think after that game we were able to Take some of that pressure off, well I think as a coach I also remember feeling like wanting to win in 95, you didn't want to be a one hit wonder so we had to do this, we have to do this putting more pressure . yourself because you wanted to be one you wanted to establish yourself and not just be a winner once and then you made two final four in a row a national championship great recruiting class you paige shower stacy hansmeyer great expectations here is Connecticut now it's 1997. we We're going through the season, we are undefeated, we are clearly the best team in the country by far and like me, I am the best team we have had up to that point and you were a big part of that, what was it like? that feeling at the end of the season when we went into the ncaa tournament undefeated was great i mean it you say those things you hear people talk about all these great teams and all the undefeated seasons and you think you know i thought about coming as a freshman, not that you guys had been established for a long time, but you were a winning program and you had won a national championship and I think coming in, we're going to come in, I'm going to put on this jersey and I'm going to win. , that's how it's going to work, but there's a lot of things involved in that and there's a lot of pressure on the

coaches

to do the right thing for the players and on the players to do the right thing on the field and all of that mixed with the pressure to be in the tournament itself and I got injured that season towards the end, so my feeling coming into the tournament was helplessness, you know no, I could have done something about it.

But you feel like you finally found a role for me as a freshman on the team. I was finally practicing properly and there was a niche for me on that team and it felt great. I felt like it should be me. I was where I should be and then you can't play and you see what it does to your team and I remember feeling like no, I don't want that to ever happen, even if I get injured again, I want to be able to help in some way so that doesn't happen again. happen with my teammates.

Find out why coaching against Uconn is a frustrating proposition for Jamelle and Shea. That's next on Geno's

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brought to you by Georgie Roofing. Prompting why you've stayed in Connecticut. a long time when you've had opportunities to go to other places and you know and you know the way these players talk about you, how they all hated you when they played there, so you haven't, hey, I didn't say the word hate, no, Didn't you do that? You have so many players sitting here day after day and talking about how they don't like you. No, they said they didn't like the things I did to them, which is what keeps you in Connecticut all these years.

You want me to tell you well, that's a fact, but experience goes with that section, it goes without saying, expand on that, why are you still in Connecticut after all these years? Okay and what do you think your impact is on Connecticut beyond what you know. headphones on the dress well, I think I've learned that being happy is very important and I feel like I'm in a place where women's basketball is very important I feel respected I feel challenged I feel like I've been given opportunities and ownership over the program that not everyone has in their job and you don't know it, I think it's easy to think that it's always better somewhere else, but I really enjoy what I do and I think I've been able to have an impact on young women during their college years and after, and I feel blessed to have had it.

I also feel like I'm prepared and I'm preparing for the next step, whether it's being a head coach or whatever I choose to do, I'm prepared through my experiences at Connecticut, but you know I'm in a great place. I think as you get older when you're young you think you're going to go anywhere and you can make this happen anywhere and I think what I learned was that as you get older you know how hard it is and the things you need to win at. that level and not all places have that and I'm aware of that and then as you get older you don't want to live anywhere you know I don't want to I don't want to live in Minnesota or Wisconsin and it's not like there's anything wrong with those places I don't want to. say nothing against minnesota or wisconsin but they're cold, they're colder than Connecticut, but you know what I'm saying, your quality of life is important and the older you get, the more you appreciate your family, the things you know, you have responsibilities, You have different things and I.

I think that impacts me and that means a lot to me and that's part of the decisions I make. Yes, I agree with all that. I think all those things that the average person doesn't understand. Every decision that involves what your next decision is and how. There are many factors, but Jamal, you have told me several times why you should be the next head coach at Connecticut instead of CD because you have experience as a head coach. Why do you think it was important for you to become a head coach? First of all, I think I learned from two of the bestcoaching the country for 12 years as an assistant coach and then playing for you for four years.

I think you know you get to a point in yourselves where you feel like It's time and you don't know when it's going to be, you don't know why it is, but you just feel this need and you're eager to do something else and, um, not take anything away. to work for you guys and you know I could have worked with you forever but at the same time I didn't want to be in that comfort zone anymore, you know it was safe, I knew everyone, I felt comfortable being around you, we became great friends. I'm still learning, but there came a time when I wanted something more and obviously I wasn't going to leave Connecticut just anywhere and you know, I always saw you and learned from you.

I always had aspirations of building a program like you. and I didn't want to go to a program that was already established. I wanted to go to a program where I could make my mark and watch her grow similar to what you guys did when you first came to Connecticut, so what kind of parallels are there? It's funny, that's how you approach arriving at school. Now you do it all over again, except instead of going to school, you'll go to practice when it's time to prepare for Connecticut basketball, instead of preparing for any other school you play against.

What is the biggest difference? Well, I mean me, besides the fact that we have the best players. Yeah, I mean, that's a fact for me. The big difference is, and wouldn't you know it, I'm a control freak. I know exactly what you can do. what you want to do and there is nothing you can do about it. I know the plays. I know everything, especially my first year. You've probably changed a lot now, but I felt helpless knowing in my head that I knew exactly what she was going to do. who can do what, but she didn't have the players or the ability to do anything about it, what would you do?

Yes, similar. I felt like I didn't want to overwhelm our players. I mean, they were already scared to death and I was scared. death, but I just remember that I didn't know what they were going to do, but you also wanted to go in there and you and I wanted our players to be successful on some level to leave, they don't feel completely bad about that. themselves, which is almost even though you guys are amazing and you put all the players in the first half and you take care of us like that oh he ran to school with me yeah but you want you feel like it's hard because I'm Broken, my heart will obviously always be with Connecticut, but at the same time I want to help these players and you.

I'm watching them and I just think, oh, you know, scouting reports like Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird. I mean the people on the Olympic team and I'm thinking this is going to be ugly, but let's try, let's try. Why did Gina once consider leaving Yukon? Find out below as Gino's

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continues. How do you feel when? You go around the state of Connecticut talking about different things and doing different things and people talk about you and talk about you and associate you and refer to you as the real head coach in Connecticut. Does that bother you at all?

Does that make you feel sorry? To me, does that impact you in any way knowing that I'm just saying thank you because I'm really the person who makes this engine run and you just aren't or do you really feel like you're the head coach of Connecticut? oh no, I'm the head coach because that's what I tell everyone. If I made the money that the head coach made at Connecticut, then it would make me feel even better, but let's keep it the way it is, wait, I have a question coach, why? Why have you been in Connecticut for so long?

Because you have not left? I tried, you know, I tried several times in the beginning, you know, in the early '90s, you know there was an opportunity that I thought and it didn't happen. It didn't work out because I thought, I don't think Connecticut will ever become what it could be anywhere else, so it was probably the first time I thought, "You know, this wouldn't be a bad time to go." I was in the final four, we did this, we did that and then all of a sudden it became the place you thought you'd go to get it, this became that, so why go somewhere to get something you already have ?

You'll probably never have it the way it is here. It would be impossible to go somewhere and have it like we have it here, given all the things we have at the University of Connecticut, the people of Connecticut, the way our fan base is. how they treat us in college what kind of players we can recruit, you know, uh, I don't know if we could go somewhere else and have it be like that at sny, you know, um, so that's and and from my family. I grew up there and like Chris said, you know it's not easy to just think the grass is greener somewhere else and you develop roots and my family's roots are in Connecticut and that's where my kids will probably live the rest of their lives and I think there's something to be said about that, I've won all my games at the same school, you know, and very few, very few

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can say that and I feel very good about it and enjoying it.

I think what you do is different. I'm not saying I enjoy it, but often you always talk about what you don't have or what you don't have and I think being able to enjoy what you have is important. too and I think we can enjoy what we have done and what we have in Connecticut. What do you think it's like to remember how hard it was every year to have to go undefeated as a coach when I was an assistant when you were an assistant coach? Here, how every year, if we didn't go undefeated, we felt that this was terrible, that it was a terrible team, this was a terrible, terrible coaching job, everything, are you happy not to be in that situation or do you miss it? that situation or a little bit of both a little bit of both um you know, my first year in Cincinnati was probably the most humiliating year of my life because I was so used to going to the ncaa tournament, making the final four and possibly winning the national championship every year for 14 years, 12 as an assistant and then two, you know my junior year and my senior year, so going from there to taking over the program was humbling and I think I probably learned the most about myself as a person. and it made me appreciate what I had before, but at the same time know that where you started you had to build and I'm actually enjoying the process.

You know, it's obviously not as much pressure as we had in Connecticut, but I put the same pressure on myself because I still want to be just as good and put a great product on the court. Will that equal wins and losses? More wins than losses at this point. No, but I think I'm building a solid foundation. foundation, so I hope that within two or three years, if not next year, it can be going up. I'm still going to start being able to benefit from wins and losses, but right now I'm benefiting in other ways and you know how.

I'm developing my character, the players, their character, you know the academics, the work ethic, what I expect and things like that, so right now for me it's small victories until we can get the real W, talk about small victories , do you ever feel? bad when we beat out cincinnati's brains do you ever feel bad? I think maybe it's the only time we play someone that we know we're friendly with and I feel like that doesn't stop you guys from saying, no, but I feel bad, but I feel bad, well, you would never want us to say, no, no.

I know, any other school you play in our league, is there anyone you want to beat more than us? Yes, but I refuse to say who he is. It means more than that, although it's absolutely not right, at all, I probably want to be in Connecticut more than anyone else on our schedule, yeah, yeah, and you know what's funny, if there's anyone I wouldn't mind losing a game to, It would be wherever you are. the head coach in the future or now certainly Cincinnati uh and I know Chris feels the same way if you're ever going to lose a game, you know the University of Hartford, just like you guys, will always be a part of Connecticut basketball.

I know I speak for Chris. We're always going to be a part of you and you're always going to be a part of us and that's why things like this are so special and I want to thank you for making the effort to get out of here and I hope you enjoyed it very well, thank you, it was great , it was fun.