PHOENIX — After a weekend of dealing with the aftermath from the on-court spat with UConn coach Geno Auriemma, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley spent much of her postgame time Sunday heaping praise on UCLA coach Cori Close.
The Bruins earned their first national championship of the NCAA era in a runaway, wire-to-wire fashion with a 79-51 victory over the Gamecocks.
There was a stark difference in tone from Staley addressing Auriemma and the glowing way she spoke of Close.
“I’m always happy for people that worked hard in this game, who are really quality people,” Staley said. “I want good things to happen for them. Cori is one of those people who really works at making our game better. Not just UCLA, but our entire game.”
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Close will finally bring the championship trophy back to Los Angeles in her 15th season at the helm. There was a clear understanding of the struggle and journey from Staley, who didn’t win it all until her 17th year as a head coach, including the first eight at Temple.
The two-time AP Coach of the Year did address a report on the ABC and ESPN broadcast from Rebecca Lobo that Auriemma had reached out to Staley after releasing an apology statement Saturday.
In the waning seconds of UConn’s 62-48 loss to South Carolina on Friday in the national semifinal, Auriemma approached Staley for a postgame handshake, then angrily got in her face before Staley started firing back. The two were separated, but Staley kept shouting toward the UConn bench before walking away. Auriemma walked off to the tunnel alone.
“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina,” Auriemma said in a statement issued through the school.
He mentioned “the staff” and “the team” within the statement, but did not mention Staley by name.
Staley said she hadn’t heard from Auriemma, despite the report. She has hundreds of unread text messages, Staley noted, so unless it’s one of them, she hasn’t heard from him.
Staley went on to emphasize that she wanted the day to be a celebration of basketball and what UCLA accomplished, but she also acknowledged that she plans to address the situation with Auriemma at a later date.
“That’s a Geno question, right?” Staley said. “It really is a Geno question. I haven’t heard from Geno, so … I have not. I got 800 text messages. I don’t know if he texted or not.
“I will address all of that at another time, just not this weekend. We’re not going to damper UCLA’s day with it.”
In further contrast to the Staley-Auriemma interaction, she and Close shared a long hug along the sidelines before the game. The two chatted for a few moments, smiling and laughing before Close walked toward her bench. Staley then immediately turned around and outstretched her arms with a smirk as if to highlight the cordial interaction.
Auriemma had complained about waiting three minutes for Staley for the traditional pregame handshake Friday.
“Although we didn’t win, I can swallow it because we lost to a really good human being,” Staley said, “and a good team that represent women’s basketball well.”
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