NCAA Women

Fans call out UConn HC Geno Auriemma’s poorly aged takes on Caitlin Clark (Imagn)

Heading into her professional career, Caitlin Clark was not met with the warmest of receptions. Now that she’s proven to live up to the hype, fans are clapping back at one all-time coach for some of his previous comments.

Coming off what was a historic run in college, fans and analysts alike thought she would go into the WNBA and dominate from day one. However, there was some pushback on the Iowa star. Among those who tried to pump the break on the hype from longtime UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma.

Back in June, Auriemma called fans delusional for thinking Caitlin Clark could be a dominant force the moment she turned pro. Some have gone back and dug up this clip to sound off on his remarks again.

Other fans joked about how things turned out almost the exact opposite of what Auriemma said.

“Geno looks foolish now. “Caitlin is not good enough to be in the WNBA “.

PURE FOOLISHness!!!!!” One fan said.”Wow it’s like opposite of everything he said,” another fan said.

“That didn’t age well…,” said one fan.Auriemma has been running UConn’s women’s program for nearly four decades now. He took the position of head coach all the way back in 1985. During his tenure, Auriemma has notched a record of 1,213-162 and won 11 championships. UConn’s most recent title victory was in 2016.

Geno Auriemma explains why he didn’t recruit Caitlin Clark to UConn

Over the past 40 years, Geno Auriemma has coached numerous players who went on to be standouts in the WNBA. Among those who wanted to join the prestigious program was Caitlin Clark, but things didn’t work out that way.

Coming out of high school, Clark had UConn at the top of her list. However, she never ended up making it on their radar. During an interview earlier this year, Auriemma explained why the future No.1 pick never became a Husky.

Auriemma detailed that Paige Bueckers was at the top of his list early on while recruiting the class of 2020. Seeing that she and Caitlin Clark played the same position, it didn’t make much sense to go after both of them.

“Well, there’s a lot of kids we didn’t recruit and there’s a lot of kids who don’t want to go to UConn,” Auriemma said, according to CT Insider. “I committed to Paige Bueckers very, very early and it would have been silly for me to say to Paige, ‘Hey listen, we’re going to put you in the backcourt and then I’m going to try really hard to recruit Caitlin Clark.’ I don’t do it that way.”Despite not going to her dream school, things still worked out great for Clark. She went on to break numerous records at Iowa and is now one of the top young stars at the pro level.