UConn coach Geno Auriemma apologizes for postgame dust-up with Dawn Staley
UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has released a statement apologizing to South Carolina and Dawn Staley for his postgame actions Friday.
Auriemma made national news after he confronted Staley in the final seconds of USC’s 62-48 upset win over UConn in the Final Four. Auriemma inferred postgame that he was frustrated at Staley’s lack of a pregame handshake minutes before tipoff, although the entire staffs shook hands earlier in the pregame.
Here is Auriemma’s full statement, which didn’t address Staley by name. The statement was released by UConn on Saturday afternoon:
“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina. It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut. I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina. It was uncalled for in how I reacted.”
“The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”
More on Geno’s Final Four actions, apology
Auriemma, 73, apologized after his postgame actions dominated the national conversation Friday and overshadowed the Gamecocks’ impressive 12-point win over UConn, previously undefeated and the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed.
UConn’s coach was also criticized for a midgame interview in which he ranted to ESPN’s Holly Rowe that USC’s players were “beating the sh*t out of us” and critiqued Staley’s interactions with the refs.
Auriemma took additional heat for insinuating a Gamecocks player ripped UConn forward Sarah Strong’s jersey when Strong herself said postgame it was a “mistake” on her end and video showed her ripping her own jersey in frustration.
Auriemma’s Saturday statement didn’t address either of those moments and focused in on his postgame confrontation with Staley, after which he walked off the floor alone and skipped a handshake line with other South Carolina coaches and players while his assistants and players stayed out on the floor.
Those actions from Auriemma, who has won a record 12 national titles at UConn and is the winningest coach in Division I basketball (men’s and women’s), drew nearly unanimous pushback from prominent sports and media figures.
Dawn Staley reacts to Geno’s apology
Auriemma’s apology came roughly an hour before Staley’s pre-national championship game news conference. The Gamecocks will play UCLA (which beat Texas in Friday’s other semifinal) on Sunday (3:30 p.m., ESPN).
Staley was asked if Auriemma reached out to her personally, if the two coaches had spoken since last night and if she had any other reactions to his apology.
As she did in her postgame news conference Friday, Staley declined to discuss the confrontation.
“Yeah, for me no distractions at this time,” she said. “Concentrating on winning the national championship. That’s it.”
South Carolina’s coach, who previously said she didn’t want the sideline confrontation to “dampen” her team’s performance, did say she was disappointing that moment was the dominant storyline from Friday’s game.
“That’s a little disheartening,” Staley said. “At the same time, this is sports. Sometimes things like this happen. That’s why I’m just going to continue to focus on our team and their ability to advance in this tournament and hopefully win another national championship.”
South Carolina senior guard Raven Johnson said Staley addressed the confrontation with the team but they’re “not going to dwell on that” ahead of another tall task: Beating 36-1 UCLA in Sunday’s national championship.
Staley had the same message.
“Nothing can derail us or me from staying with the task at hand,” she said. “There are a lot of distractions that are placed in your life. ... I’m choosing to stick to the task at hand. At some point, everything is going to be addressed.”
UCLA’s Cori Close weighs in
UCLA coach Cori Close, Staley’s Sunday championship game opponent, frequently weighs in on big-picture topics, has served as president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and is friendly with Staley.
So, what did she think of Friday’s Staley-Auriemma interaction?
“We texted a little bit last night, but very briefly,” Close said, adding with a laugh: “I told her (Staley) in a couple weeks I’d love to know the real story.”
“Those are two people, honestly, both Coach Auriemma and Dawn Staley, that have invested in me,” Close added. “I’ve had opportunities to grow in this profession because of the both of them. I’m going to let that be between them.”
Close did acknowledge that the Final Four is a “really competitive environment” where emotions are “incredibly high” and can get out of hand.
“I know them to be really good people,” she said of Staley and Auriemma. “So I’m going to trust that when all the dust settles, we just come back to that.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2026 at 2:07 PM.
