"It just became more than it was supposed to be": When Geno Auriemma reflected on his iconic rivalry with Tennessee legend Pat Summitt

Geno Auriemma is a Hall of Fame coach known for his exceptional tenure at the UConn Huskies. The 71-year-old won his 12th national championship with the Huskies last season and is still going strong even after his 40th season in the role.

He joined UConn in the 1985-86 campaign and has guided them to 19 undefeated conference seasons, eight consecutively, and had recorded six perfect seasons.

One of Auriemma's biggest rivals in college basketball was Pat Summitt, who guided the Tennessee Lady Vols to eight NCAA Tournament titles. Summitt was a pioneer in women's college basketball and held office at Tennessee for 38 years.

Auriemma and Summitt were fierce rivals, and the only thing they had in common was their love and passion for the sport and its development. Unfortunately, Summit died in 2016, and before that, she stepped down from coaching in 2012 after being diagnosed with dementia.

In February 2015, Auriemma spoke about his rift with Summitt on the Seth Davis Show. He reminisced about the old times of Connecticut and Tennessee locking horns:

"Tennessee had challenges all through Pat's career, but those challenges were like bugs on a windshield," Auriemma recalled. "They came and then gone. They splat. We kept coming and coming and coming, and we weren't going away.

"It was not so much my team and her team, or me and her, I think is what was going on around us that people wanted to make it Geno versus Pat. So it stopped becoming Connecticut versus Tennessee. It became Geno versus Pat, Pat versus Geno."

He added:

"It's funny because ESPN said, you know, you should play those guys twice every year, the way UCLA and Notre Dame used to play. It's the biggest game of the year. And I know why they wanted the game, because CBS had the game, so they wanted one too.

"So they figured, we'll get, so I approached Patter about and she goes, absolutely, so we do it well, then we go, like, three years, whatever, we win most of them. And she goes, we don't want to do it anymore, because we don't want to play each other three times."

The rivalry between the two legendary coaches was something ESPN used to create more buzz about as they forced the teams to play more games. Both teams played with great intensity, and the relationship between the two coaches made a compelling story for ESPN to cover.

Years after the fierce rivalry, Auriemma admitted that there's less animosity now and that the entire narrative between the two coaches and their programs created a lot of excitement among fans:

"To play each other three times, because we probably play each other in the tournament. Meanwhile, we end up playing Notre Dame 12 times in three years. So the familiarity constantly, and the national implications and all that other stuff, it just became more than it was supposed to be."

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How Geno Auriemma's UConn hold up against Tennessee Lady Vols

The Connecticut and Tennessee rivalry is hailed as one of the greatest in women's college basketball history. The two teams, led by the two legendary coaches, fought fiercely against each other.

Overall, Connecticut has the upper hand with a 17-10 record over Tennessee in 27 total meetings. The Huskies also had the biggest win by 23 points, winning 79-56 in 2002.

Moreover, Auriemma's team had the longest winning streak of six consecutive games during the 2002-04 period.

In January 2021, Auriemma surpassed Summitt's record of most wins in NCAA Division 1 of women's basketball. Summitt ended her coaching career with 1,098 wins. Auriemma owns the most wins record, with a staggering 1,250, and only 165 losses across his 40-year coaching career.