Geno Auriemma has heard enough complaints.
Instead, the UConn coach, who recently became the highest-paid women’s basketball coach per season, urges the old-school players to have a reality check on this opportune time in the WNBA.
“[Caitlin Clark] and Angel Reese are not the two best players in the WNBA, but they’re the two most talked about players in the WNBA right now,” Auriemma said while on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “If you’re some of the players, going back to your question, you can moan and groan about why weren’t they talking about me when I was here, well, or you can just appreciate what it is and take advantage of it now.
“But at some point, it’s always going to be about the game. It’s not going to be about all the other stuff off the court and all the other extra-curricular stuff that goes on. At some point, all of them are going to have to be really, really good.”
Both Clark and Reese have brought a new level of interest into the WNBA from their college rivalry days at Iowa and LSU, respectively, and have already brought record-setting eyes to the league as rookies.
In back-to-back weeks, the pair set a new record in viewership across the league — the latest being from the Sky’s 88-87 win over the Fever that saw 2.302 million viewers on ESPN to be the most-watched WNBA broadcast in 23 years.
It’s not the first time Auriemma has commented on the state of the league or Clark and her adjustment to professional play.
After watching Clark endure a lot of physicality, especially following the shoulder-check by the Sky’s Chennedy Carter, he said he believed Clark has been “targeted” by other players.
“Every rookie has to go through the growing pains of being a professional basketball player,” the coach said. “And the more attention you get, and today’s world attention is No. 1 and attention brings money. So is she facing the rookie challenge, the rookie hardships that are inherent with being a rookie? Yes. She’s also being targeted.”
To that end, he felt it was right that Clark was left off the US women’s basketball team roster for the Paris Olympics in July because she still has to learn to handle that part of the professional game.
“This kid’s on the wrong team, she’s got the wrong skill set to handle the physicality of that league and she’s a rookie,” Auriemma said.
“I think she’s handling [it] great,” he continued. “I think she talks a lot of s–t and she gets a lot of s–t back, so she deserves everything she gets because she gives it as good as she gets it. She’s just not built for the physicality of this league. And she’s not quick enough to get away from the physicality.”
The legendary coach will continue to be around the game and have insight, as he recently inked a five-year, $18.7 million contract extension that will put him at UConn through 2029.
In doing so, he surpassed LSU’s Kim Mulkey.
