"People who understand Geno Auriemma's career is limited": Analyst suggests UConn NCAAW squad's GM hire starts at the top

UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma is coming off his 12th national championship with his storied program. The Huskies are in the midst of potentially hiring their first general manager for Auriemma's team after four decades of the 71-year-old as the program leader.

During an episode of The Hoops Cap on Youtube on Friday, college hoops analyst Mark Zanetto asked his co-host in Tee Baker on who he thinks could be the first general manager for the UConn Huskies women's basketball team.

"I could see, if I were to make a prediction, I think that potentially Tonya Cardoza or Jamelle Elliot would be promoted to that position," Baker said (18:41). "Someone in the UConn family, like people who are very familiar with the current roster, and its construction, people who understand that Geno Auriemma's coaching career is limited, and who can work with him."

Baker doubled down on his point of having a GM who knows the Auriemma-UConn system already.

"Like I don't anticipate like a newbie coming in, sort of like, to the UConn program at this stage of Geno's career and being the general manager being a super smooth transition. But, if you have people who have coached alongside him, won championships with him, know the personnel, can sell the school, like I think that would be a great use of one of those assistant coaches," he shared. (19:01)

"And, a position, potentially, that builds in longevity and a transition to whoever the future coach is, right? Having some level of continuity between who the GM is now and who it can be in the future," Baker concluded.

In the 2024-25 season, Auriemma and the Huskies finished with a 37-3 overall record, an undefeated 18-0 during Big East conference play this year. They won the 2025 Big East conference regular season title and conference tournament championship.

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Tee Baker is intrigued with the idea of a general manager for Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies women's basketball program

During the aforementioned episode of The Hoops Cap, Tee Baker explained how intrigued he's with the idea of the UConn Huskies women's basketball team announcing their first program general manager soon.

"That's a new position within college sports, and I'm curious who that will be, what type of person would step into that role, how they interact with a coach like Geno Auriemma who is used to kind of being the big boss. I don't know, it's a dynamic of college sports that I'm very intrigued by," Baker said. (17:45)

Under Geno Auriemma, UConn has won a record 12 national championships, 24 NCAA Final Four appearances, 24 Big East conference regular season championships and 23 conference tournament titles, since 1985.