Bond between UConn and Syracuse coaches goes back to one of Geno Auriemma’s rare recruiting misses

By Canadian Press on March 22, 2026.

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — There won’t be many introductions needed between the head coaches in the NCAA Tournament matchup between UConn and Syracuse before Monday’s second-round game.

The connection between Syracuse’s Felicia Legette-Jack and UConn’s Geno Auriemma goes back well before Legette-Jack left Buffalo to take over the program at Syracuse.

When Legette-Jack was setting program records for career points and rebounds at Nottingham High School in Syracuse, Auriemma was an assistant coach at Virginia and the primary recruiter who tried to get Legette-Jack to play for the Cavaliers.

Now they meet with a spot in the Fort Worth 1 regionals on the line on Monday night after wins by UConn and Syracuse on Saturday.

“I remember how my high school coach just thought he was the most handsome guy she ever saw in her life,” Legette-Jack said. “She said, ‘you have to be recruited by Virginia. Her assistant is involved with this, right? He’s so cute.”

“It was Geno taking me around (on the official visit). It just didn’t feel right to leave and go to that color orange. I’ve got Syracuse right in my backyard.”

As luck would have it, Auriemma took the job at UConn as Legette-Jack was heading into her sophomore season at Syracuse. The Orange won the first five games at UConn after Legette-Jack’s arrival.

Legette-Jack recently joked that the NCAA sends her team to Storrs so frequently that perhaps it is Auriemma’s wish for her to join his coaching staff. Auriemma is not surprised at all that Syracuse bounced back from a losing season by returning to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s really good when a young coach gets an opportunity. She got an opportunity at Indiana, and it didn’t pan out,” Auriemma said. “A lot of times when things like that happen, a lot of young coaches get buried. I’m incredibly thrilled that she had an opportunity to get back to that level, and she’s made the most of it.”

UConn plays NCAA Tournament games at Gampel Pavilion nearly every season. Since 2000, only three of those games have been decided by nine points or less. One was Legette-Jack’s Syracuse team in 2024 and another came when she was coaching at Buffalo. Now their teams collide again.

“One thing I love about Geno, he’s a loyal human being,” Legette-Jack said. “I think that I fit the category where he thinks that I’m a pretty cool person where he can help me, and he will.”

Speaking of coaching connections, Auriemma is a close friend of former Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim. Getting the opportunity to speak about Legette-Jack gave him a chance to get a dig in at Boeheim’s expense.

“She’s an upbeat person,” Auriemma said. “She’s got a great personality. When I talked to (Syracuse athletic director) John Wildhack about hiring her, I said, ’wow, you look at your men’s coach, you need to bring in a coach that smiles once in a while, is happy-go-lucky, enjoys life, so you can balance out what’s going on on the men’s side. I think that got her the job. And a phone call to me from Boeheim.”

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Jim Fuller, The Associated Press