UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has responded to former Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw following her allegation that there is a “complete bias” when it comes to the Huskies’ influence on the sport. To her, UConn having games broadcast on ESPN is the root of the issue.
Auriemma did not mince words after hearing the comments. Here’s what he said, via the “UConn WBB Coaches Show” on Monday:
“I think the bias has something to do — if there is any — with the 11 national championships, which is a lot more than two. At least I remember that on ‘Sesame Street.'”
Before McGraw retired in 2020, she had a longstanding rivalry with Auriemma that dates back to 1996. In the all-time series between the schools, UConn holds a 39-13 lead in the series, including eight matchups in the Final Four. Notre Dame does have a 5-3 advantage in the women’s Final Four when the two schools have faced off. UConn has topped Notre Dame both times the teams have faced off in the national championship game, though.
This back and forth began on Dec. 22, when McGraw appeared on the “Off the Looking Glass” podcast with Kate Fagan and Jessica Smetana. She was asked if she thought that the Huskies have an “outsized” influence on women’s basketball.
“Absolutely,” McGraw responded. “UConn has done great things, and they’ve won way more than anybody else, except Tennessee. What they’ve done has been amazing. I think people measure their team by them. When we joined the Big East, we were like, ‘We want to get to where they are. That’s what we want to be. We’re trying to emulate them.’
“But I think it goes over the top with ESPN. That is Connecticut’s network. Notre Dame has NBC. Connecticut has ESPN. That is absolutely complete bias there.”
Auriemma did not take kindly to those comments, and poked more fun at the claim.
“I do want to thank the people at ESPN for helping us win those 111 [games] in a row. If it wasn’t for them, there’s no way we could have done it,” he said. “Hopefully, there’s some people there that can take some credit for that… There are a lot of other schools within proximity to ESPN.
“I don’t think the bias has anything to do with where ESPN is located or where UConn is located.”
According to ESPN, UConn has had four women’s basketball games broadcasted on their family of networks this season. ESPN also noted that “most of the Huskies’ games are broadcast on SNY, and Fox is the official network of the Big East, including its conference tournament.”
Auriemma echoed that, saying SNY is actually the school’s “network.”
“Notre Dame has their own network; our network is SNY,” Auriemma said. “I don’t know why anybody would think ESPN is our network. I’m just glad we don’t go 30 years between winning championships. So maybe NBC ought to help them (UConn) a little more.”
