HARTFORD, Conn. _ This past January, Geno Auriemma had a surreal moment where, in front of a sellout XL Center crowd eager to witness the revival of the UConn-Tennessee rivalry, he looked down the court and saw Kellie Harper, a former Lady Vol he had coached against, on the sideline where the late Pat Summitt used to stand.
Auriemma will find himself in a similar situation next season. When UConn plays Villanova in its first year back in the Big East, he will face off against Denise Dillon, who recently took the reins from Harry Perretta upon his retirement. And then again when the Huskies travel to South Bend, where two weeks ago Niele Ivey was introduced as Notre Dame's new head coach following Muffet McGraw's retirement.
Summitt, Perretta and McGraw _ fixtures not just in women's basketball, but in Auriemma's storied career _ all gone from the game, now replaced by their pupils.
"Jesus," exclaimed Auriemma, who celebrated his 66th birthday in March and is set to embark on his 36th season as head coach in Storrs this fall. "When I look at that, I go, 'Man, is somebody trying to tell me something?' "
It's been eight years since Summitt, Auriemma's first major rival, stepped down at Tennessee after being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's and nearly four since she died. Following Perretta's announcement that he'd retire at the end of the 2019-20 season, his close friend Auriemma told reporters that he tried to talk Perretta into it years ago.
But McGraw's decision to step down? That was a shock to Auriemma. So much so that when he reached out to her, his first concern was whether the decision was health-related _ it wasn't.
"Everybody's got their own timetable," Auriemma said. "Sometimes you just don't know. Some people coach way longer than I ever thought they would, and some wake up one day and go 'I'm done.'
"And yeah, it was a huge surprise."
