UConn signs Geno Auriemma to 5-year, $18.7M contract extension

UConn announced on Tuesday that it has signed women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma to a five-year contract extension valued at $18.7 million.

The deal extends Auriemma’s contract through April 2029. Auriemma will be 75 years old at the end of the extension. The contract all but ensures that Auriemma will finish his career with UConn.

He’ll remain with the program through an unprecedented period of growth for women’s basketball amid a dramatically changing landscape across college sports.

“Coach Auriemma has dedicated over half of his life to UConn and our women’s basketball program and will undoubtably be known as one of the greatest collegiate coaches of all time,” athletic director David Benedict said per a statement announcing the deal. “His presence, dedication and loyalty to this university and state is priceless and will be critical as we enter the most transformational period in college athletics in the past 40 years.”

Auriemma, 70, has been the head coach at UConn since 1985, a span of 39 seasons. He’s led the program to a 1,213-162 record. UConn’s 23 Final Fours and 11 national championships under Auriemma are the most in the sport.

UConn’s experiencing a relative championship drought, having won its most recent NCAA title in 2016. But the program remains among the nation’s best, having advanced to the Final Four in three of the last four seasons, including this year. The Huskies project to compete for a championship again next season anchored by the return of two-time All-American and 2021 National Player of the Year Paige Bueckers.

“I feel like there’s so much more that can be done, and will be done, and I’m excited to be the one to do it with my staff and my team,” Auriemma said, per the announcement. “I’m probably as excited about these next few years as I’ve ever been over the last 40.”

Auriemma is a nine-time AP National Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.