Who was UConn women's basketball coach before Geno Auriemma? Taking a look at the Huskies' coaching history

UConn WBB head coach Geno Auriemma has been coaching at Storrs for the last 39 years, and in these four decades, he has been part of several great championship teams.

An 11-time Division 1 hoops champion coach, Auriemma was part of at least two three-peats and is the only one in program history to have ever won a national title for the team. But the 70-year-old was preceded by coaches who may not have won titles but definitely helped set UConn women`s basketball`s precedent for success.

Here`s a quick look at the history of UConn women`s basketball head coaches before Geno Auriemma joined the fray.

The pre-Geno Auriemma eras of UConn women`s basketball

The Lady Huskies` first WBB head coach was Sandra Hamm, who was at the helm for only the team`s maiden season in 1974-1975. She wasn`t a full-time head coach but only an interim due to her job as a middle school PE teacher in Manchester (via UConnBBWeekly.com).

Hamm went 2-8 in her first season and was replaced by Wanda Flora, who was the first full-time, multi-season-tenured UConn women`s basketball head coach. She served from 1975 to 1980 for a total of five seasons. During her time at the helm, Flora never had a winning season and was unable to lead the team to play any high-level competition outside of New England or NYC.

UConn women`s basketball takes a (tiny) leap

After Hamm and Flora, Jean Balthaser was next in line as the Huskies' head coach. Her biggest achievement perhaps is the first and the only winning season in program history before Geno Auriemma`s arrival: a 16-14 finish in the 1980-1981 season.

The team made it to the postseason as well, going as far as the Eastern Regionals of the old AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) Tournament the same year. They didn`t get further than that, as they fell to St. John`s and never broke through until almost a decade later.

For context, the AIAW Tournament was the predecessor of the modern NCAAW Tournament. It was held from 1972 to 1982 and featured only 16 competing teams, far from the massive pool that populates the modern NCAAW Tournament today.

UConn women`s basketball had a rough first few years before Auriemma arrived. But as they often say, the only way to go is up. And the rest is history.