"We don't like each other": Candace Parker calls to normalize tension among women with blunt Geno Auriemma statement 

During her collegiate days, Candace Parker’s Tennessee had a heated rivalry with Connecticut, which was coached by Geno Auriemma. The feud has been on for years, as Parker has expressed his dislike for the legendary women’s basketball coach.

In an interview with Complex Magazine, she answered a question about her rivalry with Auriemma. Parker explained that it should be normalized to dislike each other and carry on with the disapproval.

"No. It's not beef. It's just we don't like each other," she said on Auriemma. "We have to be in a place where people understand and respect that, right? Like, there's so many men out there that don't like each other.”

Parker believed that it should be okay to dislike each other, citing numerous sports legends such as Tom Brady and football coach Bill Belichick.

“It's so okay in society for people to not like each other. It's so okay for people to come on social media and talk junk if you're a man. Like, it's fine, we don't like each other,” she said.

“I grew up in an era where, if you wronged my brother, I didn't like you. It's just like that. Pat [Summitt] did not mess with Geno. So therefore, I didn't mess with him. It was a rivalry…The best feeling is knowing you don't like each other. There's not beef, because we moved past it," Parker added.

Pat Summitt was Parker’s coach during her career in Tennessee, where their feud with Auriemma started.

In 2016, their beef boiled over in the national team as Parker, who was in her prime, was not selected for Team USA for that year’s Olympic Games. Auriemma coached the team to the gold medal that year.

Parker cites former coach’s hatred of Auriemma in longtime feud

Candace Parker has been a loyal follower of former coach Patt Summitt. The late Tennessee coach, however, did not like Geno Auriemma during their time as rival coaches, which resulted in Parker’s similar hatred of the UConn coach.

Talking to CNBC Television, Parker said his former coach’s feud with Auriemma was the genesis of her long-standing beef with Auriemma.

“Patt did not like Geno. So I did not like Geno. That’s all it was,” she said. (From 0:47).

Despite their feud, the two remained stars in the sport as Parker continues to be a talking head for the WNBA, while Auriemma remains a championship-caliber head coach at UConn.