UConn’s Geno Auriemma Speaks Out After Getting into Screaming Match with South Carolina Coach at Women's Final Four Semifinal
“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game,” he wrote
Geno Auriemma; Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma on April 3, 2026 Credit: C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty;Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty NEED TO KNOW UConn coach Geno Auriemma apologized for getting into a screaming match with Dawn Staley, the South Carolina Gamecocks coach, during the women’s Final Four semifinals game on April 3 “The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that,” he wrote in a statement Following the Huskies’ 62-48 loss against the Gamecocks, Auriemma walked slowly off the court without shaking Staley’s hand Geno Auriemma is apologizing for getting into a screaming match with Dawn Staley during the women’s Final Four semifinals game. Hours after he got into a heated argument with the South Carolina Gamecocks coach, 55, at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, the Connecticut Huskies coach, 72, issued an apology on social media.
“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina,” Auriemma wrote in a statement, per ESPN . “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,” he continued. “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. ” Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma exchange words during the April 3 game Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty As for what happened during the April 3 game? In the seconds before South Carolina took home a 62-48 victory against the Huskies, Auriemma was caught on camera getting into an argument with Staley, leading to referees blowing whistles.