HARTFORD, Conn. — Geno Auriemma was a curious kid growing up. The UConn women’s head coach is now an 11-time national champion and Hall of Famer, but back then he used to work alongside older Italian men, helping the stonemasons and bricklayers and carpenters as they went about their days. And he always had questions for them.
“I would want to know something and they would just look at me and shake their head,” Auriemma recalled before the Huskies' practice on Saturday. “And I would keep asking, ‘Well, why is it like that? Why? Why? Why?’ I always wanted to know why. ‘Why?’ And their answer was pretty simple. In Italian, ‘Perché è così.’ Because it is. That’s the only explanation.”
It took Auriemma until recently to truly understand the meaning of the Italian phrase. He’s been through a lot over the last month or so. He lost his mother, Marsiella, who died at age 91 on Dec. 8. Then he started feeling physically sick. He would end up missing four games from Dec. 21 to Jan. 5, leaving associate head coach Chris Dailey to lead the Huskies in his absence.
