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Geno Auriemma says he feels 'dumb' for altercation with Dawn Staley

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones05/05/26brianjones_93

UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma wishes he had handled things differently with South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley during the Final Four matchup. While speaking in his first news conference since the incident, Auriemma said he felt “dumb” for how things played out.

“When I walked into the locker room afterward with the coaches, you are just shaking your head, thinking five more seconds, you couldn’t keep it in for five more seconds,” Auriemma said, per the Associated Press. “You just feel dumb for the way that it played out. We are all human, and we all do dumb [stuff].”

In the final seconds of South Carolina’s 62-48 victory over UConn, Geno Auriemma went over to Dawn Staley, and it appeared he was yelling at her. The coaches from both teams separated Auriemma and Staley, and when the game ended, Auriemma walked off the court without shaking hands with anyone from South Carolina.

Geno Auriemma reacts to the backlash he received for the altercation

“I didn’t see a lot of it, but that is to be expected,” Auriemma said when asked about the backlash he received for the incident. “I think maybe some of it was warranted, and some of it was people have been lying in the weeds waiting for that moment. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done for the game; it is what you just did.

“Unfortunately, that is the world that we live in today, and it usually is one-sided. The people who understood what it was all about in a different light, they are not going to go on the air and say it. They are not going to write about it because now they are going against a major internet or media frenzy; they are not going to do that. I brought the criticism on myself. I didn’t bring the (stuff) that came after it on myself.”

Auriemma issued an apology to Staley in a written statement shortly after the altercation. It was clear the 72-year-old was frustrated with how the game played out, as UConn came into the game undefeated and was one game away from playing for its 13th national title.