With a combined 80 years of coaching, UConn's Geno Auriemma and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer are two of just six coaches all-time with more than 1,000 women's college basketball victories. This week they join South Carolina's Dawn Staley and Jeff Walz of Louisville - both powerhouse-builders in their own right - on the Target Center floor as a quad of Women's Final Four coaching icons.
"We are dream merchants for young people," Staley said after the Gamecocks defeated Creighton to reach the Final Four. "The young people on our team, they want to win. They want to go to Final Fours. They want to win national championships. We are creating lifelong memories."
(Tap here to read Kent Youngblood's story on Dawn Staley)
Here is a closer look at the coaches leading teams at the Women's Final Four.
Geno Auriemma: Annual trips to Final Four not taken for granted
It's been 27 years since Geno Auriemma led UConn to its first NCAA championship. The Huskies coach said every detail from that 1995 Final Four at Target Center is burned into his mind, the unforgettable beginning to an unbelievable ride.
Since then, Auriemma and the Huskies have won 10 more NCAA titles, building one of the most dominant programs in college sports history. On the eve of this Final Four — his 22nd overall and 14th in a row — Auriemma is feeling a little more introspective. Though it might seem routine for UConn to be in this spot, the coach has never viewed it that way, and getting here after a challenging 37th season makes it all the more precious.
"I do think you reflect more,'' said Auriemma, 68. "You appreciate more. Each year that you go on, you're reminded how difficult this really is.''
Born in Montella, Italy, Auriemma — whose given name is Luigi — came to America with his family when he was 7. UConn had only one winning season before he arrived on campus in 1985. Under his leadership, the program has won 11 NCAA championships, had six undefeated seasons and captured 55 conference crowns, while every player who stayed four years has earned a degree.
Auriemma's numbers are simply staggering. His career record is 1,148-149, and that win percentage of .885 is the highest ever in the college game, men's or women's. He has the most NCAA tournament victories (129) in history. Auriemma also has two Olympic gold medals as a head coach, leading the U.S. team to Summer Games titles in 2012 and 2016.
After the Huskies' double-overtime victory over North Carolina State in the Elite Eight, Auriemma wiped away tears. When UConn won its 1995 NCAA title, his son, Michael, was a 6-year-old who got lost at Target Center. Auriemma will return as a grandfather, grateful to coach in another Final Four.
"When you're younger, you think, 'I got a million of these left in me,' '' he told ESPN. "You get to a certain age when you go, 'I don't know how many of these I have left.' It means more."
RACHEL BLOUNT
Tara VanDerveer: Knowing how to keep the defending champions loose
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer noticed her basketball team wasn't focused during its film session last week on the 72-66 Sweet Sixteen victory over Maryland, so she had everyone leave the meeting room.
After the players returned, VanDerveer said she had a special treat for them if they were more engaged in the video session this time around.
That treat was a chance to work on the Electric Slide line dance, so they could perform it on the court if they won the Spokane Regional to earn a trip to the Final Four in Minneapolis. The Cardinal is here to defend last year's national championship, after toppling Texas 59-50 on Sunday.
"We are not looking ahead, but we have to plan ahead," VanDerveer said. "So if we're in a situation where we can do this, let's practice and make sure everybody knows the dance."
One of the highlights of the women's NCAA tournament this year was Stanford's 68-year-old Hall of Fame coach lined up with her Final Four cap turned backwards, Electric Sliding on the floor next to her players.
VanDerveer is a keen motivator, but she's also an expert at another type of dancing this time of the year. Stanford played in its 34th consecutive NCAA tournament this season, which includes three national titles in 1990, 1992 and 2021.
Before taking over Stanford's program in 1985, VanDerveer coached Ohio State to three NCAA tournaments, including the Elite Eight. A Massachusetts native, she got her coaching start at Idaho in 1978 — three years after her playing career ended at Indiana.
VanDerveer told Stanford players they couldn't use their cameras to capture the moment working with All-America guard Haley Jones on the Electric Slide last week. But the idea lightened the mood and showed the confidence she had in them to win.
Of course, the entire social media world saw videos of VanDerveer and her Cardinal team showing off their moves at Spokane Arena over the weekend — and they were a huge hit.
"Sometimes you just think about things, like different things that will help your team stay loose," VanDerveer said. "You know, kind of just the whole idea about dancing, and they know I can't dance, so they're watching me and laughing ... It was all good."
MARCUS FULLER
Jeff Walz: Former Gophers assistant has Cardinals in fourth Final Four
Louisville senior forward Emily Engstler's eyes welled up when asked about coach Jeff Walz after Monday night's 62-50 victory over Michigan to win the Wichita Regional.
Walz, overseeing the program's fourth Final Four trip, stood up, walked over and embraced Engstler, reciprocating the support she'd just given him in a dynamo defensive effort against the Wolverines.
"I love you too, man," Engstler told Walz. "He's a good person and he's a good person on the court. He's just really fun to play for. He lets you be yourself and he protects you and you can trust him, and that's hard in this industry. So, I'm grateful for him, and I'm going to do whatever I can to get him a national championship."
Walz, 50, has been a galvanizing force in multiple stops, from his days as an assistant at Minnesota (2001-02) and Maryland, where the Terrapins won a national title in 2006, to his 15 seasons turning Louisville women's basketball into a powerhouse.
The Cardinals' staying power under Walz is built on relationships as thick as the press defense their opponents struggle to crack.
"That moment on that podium," Walz said, "when those ladies said what they said, that was — that superseded us winning that game [Monday] night. That's how much that meant to me."
The foundation of Louisville's press defense, forcing 21 turnovers per game in the tournament, was formed in Walz's first coaching jobs as a Western Kentucky and Nebraska assistant under Paul Sanderford from 1996 through 2001.
As fate would have it, Sanderford and his fellow 2022 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized during Friday's semifinals.
"To be playing in the Final Four the year that Paul is going into the Hall of Fame means the world to me," Walz said. "It touches my heart to know that we're going to get to share that moment."
Walz hopes more special moments will follow, should this Louisville team topple a vaunted South Carolina program on Friday night for the third title game berth in his tenure. They've won across two decades. All that's missing is a Cardinals championship.
"[Associate head coach] Steph Norman and my staff, we've been to four Final Fours with four completely different teams," Walz said. "We take a lot of pride in the fact that we've been able to build teams throughout the years."
ANDREW KRAMMER
