UConn's Geno Auriemma says he will return for 42nd season

UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma is returning in 2026-27 for a 42nd season.

He gave the news to the Hartford Courant, part of a lengthy article about the legendary coach published Sunday.

Auriemma, who turns 72 on March 23, apparently still is enjoying the grind of the job. And why not?

His No. 1 Huskies are undefeated at 34-0. They will be a No. 1 seed in the Women's NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Sunday night. They are the defending national champions, and Auriemma will try to lead them to a 13th title during this tournament.

And there's little slow down in him. On Tuesday, the morning after his team won the Big East tournament, he was on a plane to the Midwest to meet with a 2027 recruit, he told the Courant.

"Well, I mean, something could come up," he said, "but there isn't anything right now where I'd say, ‘It's up in the air whether I'll be back next year.' No. That's not what I'm thinking. I would not have been on that plane Tuesday if I was not planning to be here."

Auriemma said he declined "two great opportunities" in the past to leave UConn.

"So I don't know why in God's name I'm defying him, I don't know why," he told the newspaper. "It's a big risk. You come back again next year, and you're not undefeated, you're not one of the top two or three teams in the country and it's, ‘Oh, the game's passed him by, he's old now.' We listened to that for eight years, so I wonder if that narrative has left now."

Those eight years represent the span between UConn's 2016 and 2025 titles.

Auriemma took the job at UConn, which has just one winning season to its credit at the time, before the 1985-86 season. He was 31.

In his 41 seasons, the Huskies have appeared in 24 Final Fours, with eyes on another one this season.

His career record is 1,284-165 (.886), the most wins of any NCAA Division I program, either women's or men's teams.

--Field Level Media