In a wholly unsurprising development, UConn's Geno Auriemma has been selected as a finalist for the 2015 Naismith Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Wednesday. This is what happens when you lead the nation's best team, one whose average margin of victory is well into the double-digits, and includes a 31-game winning streak.
Auriemma is joined by South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, Princeton's Courtney Banghart and Florida State's Sue Semrau. The winner will be announced on April 7.
More details, via the news release:
On March 6, Auriemma picked up his second-straight and 12th overall conference Coach of the Year honor after leading UConn to a 29-1 overall record in the regular season. The Huskies finished conference play with a perfect 18-0 record, defeating league opposition by an average of 48.7 points per game.
Over the course of 30 seasons at Connecticut, Auriemma was named Coach of the Year in the former Big East conference a total of ten times and garnered National Coach of the Year honors seven times. Auriemma has guided the Huskies to a record nine national championships and owns the record for consecutive Final Four appearances with seven. In total, he has overseen 16 UConn trips to the Final Four.
Auriemma has won a total of six Naismith National Coach of the Year awards with the last coming in the 2008-09 campaign.
As for more pressing matters, UConn opens its NCAA title defense on Saturday, March 21 at 9 pm ET when it hosts St. Francis Brooklyn in Gampel Pavilion.
