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RSS FeedWho is the better UCONN basketball coach, Jim Calhoun or Geno Auriemma?
Results so far:
| Calhoun | 43% | 19 votes | Total: 44 votes | |
| Auriemma | 57% | 25 votes |
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Add to FavoritesOver the last two decades, the University of Connecticut has become one of the premiere basketball schools in the nation in both the men's and women's game. Two men can be credited for this, Men's Head Coach Jim Calhoun and Women's Head Coach Geno Auriemma.
Calhoun, who began his tenure in Storrs in 1986, has garnered more than 800 wins, won two national titles, been to three final fours, won six Big East Tournament championships and is a National Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, and is considered to be one of the most successful coaches in the history of men's college hoops.
Auriemma, who has been coaching at UCONN since 1985, has made the Lady Huskies into arguably, the most successful program in the country today. He has amassed more than 600 wins, won six national titles, been to 10 final fours, won 15 Big East Tournament championships and is himself a member of the National Basketball Hall of Fame.
Both of these men literally built what are now among the elite basketball programs in the nation from the ground up. UCONN hoops has become a religion in Connecticut and a major cog in the college sports industry on a national basis. Trying to determine who is better is like comparing Maine lobster to fillet mignon. While neither man's success can be debated, if a slight had edge had to be doled out, I would give it to Calhoun for two very specific reasons.
The competition is stronger in the men's game. Calhoun's teams have to face a level of opponent night in and night out that is superior to what Auriemma's teams go up against. This is not intended to be a knock against women's college basketball, but it is the truth. While the disparity between the elite programs and the rest of the pack is lessening in the women's game, the sport is still very top heavy. A handful of schools are still clearly head and shoulders above everyone else. The Lady Huskies are in that mix.
It can be argued that, in the men's game, there is little if any disparity between programs labeled as elite and mid-major programs like Gonzaga, Xavier and Butler. Granted, there will always be successful nationally ranked programs, such as Duke, North Carolina and UCLA, who will be competitive on a yearly basis. However, they don't win championships with the level of consistency the nationally prominent women's schools like UCONN and Tennessee do. Once Calhoun's teams get into the meat of their schedule, they can be beaten by any opponent. In the case of Auriemma's teams, it is not as likely.
Being able to recruit top high school and foreign prospects is more difficult in the men's game as well. Considering the competition in the men's game is more comparable than in women's college basketball, Calhoun has to vie with all of the country for the better touted recruits. Chances are, the majority of top prospects in the women's game will be choosing amongst the very top programs, of which UCONN is. This gives Auriemma an advantage in building and maintaining a talent-laden team that can dominate season after season. I understand Calhoun does land his fair share of top recruits, but he also loses plenty simply because he is competing with so many other coaches and programs.
It is very difficult, if not impossible to choose the better coach between UCONN's Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma. Both men know basketball like the back of their hands, have built stellar programs and enjoyed remarkable success. To me, the only argument I could think of to give one the nod over the other is which man faces tougher challenges in maintaining this level of accomplishment. If you ask me, that man is Calhoun.
Learn more about this author, Matthew Emma.
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Auriemma
For a true UCONN sports fan this is a rather hard question to answer but most fans of UCONN sports are actually fans of UCONN women's basketball. I mean, how many people even in Connecticut know who Darius Butler, Tyler Lorenzen, or Donald Brown are?
How many people know that Donald Brown was probably the best running back in college football this past season but was snubbed any Heisman Trophy votes because he played at UCONN in the Big East?
Probably not many, and the numbers grow smaller as you leave the Northeast. The truth is Connecticut is dominated by college basketball. It always has; even when the Whalers were in Hartford; and it will be for the foreseeable future.
Now that I have gotten it narrowed down to basketball, I will take this one step further and say that women's college basketball in Connecticut is the premier sport. With that said the connection between great team and great coach is easy to see but for an avid UCONN fan as myself, it is still hard to choose between Calhoun and Auriemma.
==Coach Jim Calhoun==
Coach Calhoun was a mainstay for another Huskies team in Massachusetts, the Northeastern University Huskies, and he could have very well built a good team there. Maybe not a powerhouse team, but a good team nonetheless. The UCONN athletic director was wise to offer Calhoun a job in the 1980s and history has shown us that it was a wise decision.
Calhoun has lead the men to multiple National Championships and has secured himself a slot in the college basketball coach's Hall of Fame. Sure as of late he has been facing allegations of recruiting violations and lost his cool on a pesky reporter on how much money he makes, but Calhoun is still an awesome coach.
==The Women's Program Under Auriemma==
The thing that truly separates Auriemma from Calhoun is the amount of money and support given to Calhoun vice Auriemma and the amount of consistency of the women's program over the men's program.
Being a men's basketball coach which draws more crowd, therefore more money, the university pours more money into the men's basketball program, its facilities, recruiting budgets, scholarship budgets, etc. compared to that of the girls program. To say Coach Calhoun every went wanting as far as money and facilities is concerned would be stretching the truth.
==Changing an Intramural Team into Champions==
Geno on the other hand was brought to Connecticut to take an intramural team and make them into a team that could play at the mid-conference level and perhaps bring more money into the school then what was put into it. The facilities given to Geno were mediocre at best but he made it work.
Over a course of a few years he built a foundation for what would become the most dominant basketball program in the Northeast and now one of the two most dominant (yes, I have to acknowledge Tennessee, even if it leaves a sour taste in my mouth) teams in the history of women's college basketball. Geno had so little resources at his disposal and almost lost his job a few times in the beginning but now he has the lady dogs soaring to heights never dreamed of.
==The Consistency Comparison==
The consistency of the women's program in the recruiting and playing arenas outpace that of the men's program step for step. Geno constantly lands top ten players and the top recruit while Calhoun struggles to grab at least one to two players in the top thirty if he is lucky.
When the men's team slumps, it really slumps and misses even the NIT which is less than two hours down the road from Storrs; while I can't even remember the last time the women's team hasn't made the NCAA tournament. Heck I can't even remember the last time they made it and weren't at least a two seed.
==Geno is the Better Coach==
The consistency of the women's basketball team at UCONN is one of the reasons why Geno is able to recruit so much talent year in and year out. When Calhoun recruits boys, they have a valid reason to ask if Calhoun will be able to get the team into the NCAA tournament and if so into the round of at least sixteen.
I know all my statements about Calhoun may be seen as Huskie Blasphemy, but trust me I am a UCONN fan through and through, I just like to point out reality when I see it. In the end, hands down, Geno Auriemma is the better UCONN basketball coach and he has proved it time and time again. I mean can anyone say 39-0?
Learn more about this author, Robert Freeman.
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