COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Geno Auriemma can reach back into the memory bank and recall what those days were like. When each step up was exciting, and the whole state of Connecticut seemed to be traveling along with him and his Huskies as they made the trip to the winner's circle.
He jokes that the UConn fans liked him a lot better then, 21 years ago -- when the pursuit of a national championship was still such a new thing -- than they do now. Because these days, the Huskies winning the NCAA title is treated like a chronological inevitability. Is it early April? OK, then it's net-cutting time for UConn.
"As time goes on," Auriemma said, "you get compared to what you've done before."
Yet when his No. 1 Huskies meet No. 2-ranked South Carolina on Monday (ESPN2, 7 p.m. ET) in the most anticipated game of the women's basketball season, Auriemma will look around inside sold-out Colonial Life Arena and appreciate what this is like for Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley. And be glad that he's a part of it.
"It's not even about winning and losing on Monday night, from a big-picture standpoint," Auriemma said of the battle between unbeaten squads. "It's more the actual game itself, the idea that the No. 1 and 2 teams in the country are playing, and I hope that at the end of the game we can look back and say, 'That was a hell of a show.'"
It so happens that the Gamecocks' theme/nickname is "The Show," which is appropriate. Because Staley has been as savvy as any coach in college sports about effectively using social media not just for outreach to fans, but to solidify the branding around her program.
Staley doesn't just thank fans for their support; she makes them part of the process by actively engaging them. If you're a South Carolina fan, you probably get butterflies before games just like a player might. That's how much Staley has worked to make everyone who wants to be involved actually feel involved. She interacts through the Internet and the old-fashioned way: in person.
"I just feel like I'm indebted to the people who have supported us from Day 1," said Staley, whose team leads the country in attendance, averaging about 14,800 at home. "I like being part of the grass roots and just building the program. I did not think about what the crowds would look like when I took the job. My focus was on wins and losses and doing things the right way.
"The fans created a beautiful picture of what it's supposed to look like. As far as working in the community, I've been doing that all of my life."
Staley has the same quality that Auriemma does, a necessary trait to make people want to follow you: genuine charisma. They both grew up in Philadelphia; Auriemma starting in the 1960s after his family immigrated from Italy, and Staley in the 1970s.
Staley began her college coaching career at Temple in her hometown in 2000, when she was still playing in the WNBA. Admittedly, Columbia, South Carolina, is a lot different than Philly, but Staley has adapted.
"When I first got there, everything seemed so slow," said Staley, who took over the Gamecocks in 2008. "So it took me a while to understand the culture, and for people here to understand me. You go back to your point-guard skills and knowing your personnel. You want to give people what they want; you have to take the time to get to know them and understand the process."
Auriemma and Staley are now coaching colleagues -- on the U.S. national team staff, he is the head coach and Staley an assistant -- but he first knew about her when she was in junior high school and he was still an assistant at Virginia.
"It's like she was the original Mo'ne Davis," Auriemma said of the Little League sensation who became nationally known in 2014. "From the time Dawn was in seventh or eighth grade, that's all anybody was talking about in girls' basketball. She had a reputation that preceded her when she got to Virginia [in 1988], and she was part of their greatest successes as a team.
"She was the original Mone Davis. From the time Dawn was in seventh or eighth grade, that's all anybody was talking about in girls' basketball. She had a reputation that preceded her." Geno Auriemma on Dawn Staley
"People remember Dawn as a great college player and a great player for USA Basketball. Not many of those players that do that go on to have great success as a coach. So for her to get her team to the level they are now, it's pretty amazing. I'm very proud and thrilled I've gotten a chance to work with her a little bit."
Then, Auriemma being Auriemma, he added with a laugh, "I guess I'm just a reminder that you don't have to be a good player to be a great coach."
Staley would be the first to compliment Auriemma on every aspect of coaching, including strategic ability and his way of thinking about the game. In fact, Staley credits Auriemma's approach as influencing how even the professional women's game is coached. It's why so many of his former Huskies players transition to that level so successfully.
Auriemma took over at UConn in 1985, went to the Final Four for the first time in 1991, and won his first NCAA title in 1995. "Huskymania" was launched without social media, but it got a tremendous boost from the actual news media. Auriemma was then, and remains today, eminently quotable. It's hard to imagine the program would have captivated the state quite as much as it has without his personality.
The quips and the analogies, the wry philosophy and the strategic tidbits -- Auriemma offers them all in a smorgasbord to the media. And, by extension, to the fans. Most of the UConn faithful adore him -- even when he says stuff that outsiders think insults his own fan base. The Huskies' followers by and large respond to such things with, "Oh, you just don't get him. We understood exactly what he really meant."
Although, there are some UConn fans who view Auriemma as a chess-master to be continually challenged. They want to somehow find a detail that they think Auriemma missed, so they can then say, "I'm telling you, this is what's going to trip up the Huskies this season."
That's the kind of scrutiny that Auriemma means when he talks about being compared to his past accomplishments. When you've already won 10 national championships, what can you do to continue to impress people? They start finding flaws even in perfection.
Staley, though, is in an earlier part of her program's construction. She's still looking for her first college title. A quarter-century ago is when she came the closest. As a junior guard and the consensus national player of the year, she led Virginia to the NCAA final, beating Auriemma's Huskies in the 1991 semifinals. The championship game against Tennessee went to overtime, and then slipped away from Staley and the Cavaliers, 70-67.
"You can't raise the level of your program without having quality people committed to the vision and winning. It's not just, 'You get talent, and you win.' They have to be committed to it." Dawn Staley
She and the Cavs made it to the national semis the next year, but lost to Stanford. It wasn't until last season -- after a professional and international playing career, and in her 15th year as a coach -- that Staley returned to the Final Four. Of course, in that time, UConn had become the standard-bearer in women's college hoops many times over.
The Gamecocks fell in the 2015 national semifinals to Notre Dame, but as disappointing as that was for South Carolina, the tears dried pretty quickly. Because there was so much talent returning and the feeling that the "ride" was just getting started.
UConn has been at or near the top of the women's basketball mountain for more than two decades now. South Carolina is trying to establish a long-standing residence in that same place. So when they meet Monday, as Auriemma said, there is something bigger to take into account than just this one game. There is the process of how both got where they are, led by two coaches who have the personas around which to build greatness.
"It boils down to talent," Staley said of making a program consistently top-tier. "But you can't raise the level of your program without having quality people committed to the vision and winning. It's not just, 'You get talent, and you win.' They have to be committed to it."