“I don’t have his cell number. We don’t talk”: When Pat Summitt dismissed any off-court camaraderie with Geno Auriemma

Former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt dominated college basketball with the Volunteers winning eight national championships during her 38-year tenure at the helm of the program. In the mid-1990s, Summitt's dominance was challenged by UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma and the pair battled for supremacy in college basketball.

The start of Auriemma's dynasty in Storrs began when he beat Summitt's Vols in the national championship game in 1995. The pair had a famously intense rivalry and during a news conference before they played each other in the 2004 Final Four, the charismatic Summitt revealed that she did not have a warm relationship with Auriemma.

"We don't have a relationship. We coach against each other," Pat Summitt said. "As I said before, I don't have his cell number. We don't talk. We speak before and after the games, that's it. But that's the relationship that Geno worked very hard to create. At one time, I thought we had a pretty good relationship. So I don't know why it went south, but that's the way it is."

When Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma's relationship broke

After defeating Pat Summitt in the 1995 national championship game, Geno Auriemma dominated the encounters between the two sides, winning five of their six Final Four matchups. In 2007, Summitt and the Tennessee Volunteers made a complaint to the SEC about the UConn Huskies' recruitment practices.

Their annual regular season game was subsequently canceled and in her book titled "Sum It Up," the legendary coach revealed a tense phone call between herself and Auriemma after the announcement was made.

"My home phone rang," Pat Summitt wrote. "It was Geno. In retrospect, that was the moment when friendship and alliance should have prevailed. Each of us should have said, 'Let's talk this through and solve this. What are your concerns?' But we had long passed the point of being able to talk that way. Instead, it was hostile and defensive from the start.

"Geno made an opening remark. 'Geno, you and I both know we aren't playing by the same rules,' I said. The conversation only lasted a minute or so more. It mainly consisted of him saying that he hoped to see us in the NCAA Tournament, so 'I can kick your ass.' But we never played again."

Pat Summitt retired in 2012 as the most successful women's college basketball coach with eight national championships, but since then, Geno Auriemma has added five titles to his resume with his latest coming in April after a nine-year drought.