Geno Auriemma on coaching this new generation of ‘fragile’ players
Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz are joined by UConn Huskies women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma to discuss his relationship with this new generation of athletes he has begun coaching. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV .
Video Transcript
The athletes have just changed.
You know, this generation is just different.
They take coaching differently.
Their personalities are different.
Have you changed your approach with your players now versus maybe your approach 20 or 30 years ago?
Well, I don't know.
If you watch that film, does it look any different, me talking to Paige than it did when I was talking to Rebekkah or, or, or, or Diana or any of those other players?
I do think they've changed.
No.
100%, I think they've changed.
Here's the problem, and not everyone is in a position to admit it like I am because I've been fortunate.
All right?
I've, I've been here, I'm secure.
We've had a tremendous amount of success.
It I can imagine if you're a younger coach or a coach that's trying to figure things out every day, you, you may have to do it differently.
I'm sure.
I'm sure.
And I don't take that for granted.
But even though they've changed, if you think about it, they want the exact same things that those other players got.
They want that.
They look up in the, in the rafters and they say, "I want that.
I wanna be that.
I, I wanna be in that situation."
And then when you explain to them the, the sacrifices they have to make, the things that they have to do, the, the, the, the agony and the, and, and the thrills and all the other stuff that they're gonna experience, it's the same as, as every player from 40 years ago when I first got here.
It's exactly the same.
And the biggest thing, guys, is the reason why they're n- they're different is because people are, are treating them differently.
People are treating them differently.
So but from the time these kids are 12 and they're really heavy into sports, people treat them like they're God's gift to the world.
They treat them with, you know, baby-like things.
They're so fragile, don't break them.
Don't hurt their feelings.
Make sure that they're okay.
So they grow up fragile, and then people blame them for being fragile.
Hey, kids are different today.
Yeah, because they've been treated different by us, by adults.
So my thing is, no, they're not.
They're just as tough as any other kid 25 years ago.
You just have to bring it out of them somehow because they want it.
They want it.
They want the same things.
At least that's the way I, I, I view it.
That's the kind of kids I get anyway
