Geno Auriemma is on a quest to win his 10th national title as head coach of the Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball team. If Auriemma’s Huskies wins two more games he will have as many national titles as the late John Wooden.
So why is it that Auriemma is making less than Kevin Ollie, who just recently won his first national title as head coach of the men’s basketball team at UConn? Doesn’t really add up when you think about it, but Auriemma isn’t upset about it at all.
Kevin Ollie won one national championship for the University of Connecticut in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and his compensation immediately surpassed Geno Auriemma and his nine national titles on the women’s side. Ollie is making $3million this season to Auriemma’s $2million. That has to bother Auriemma, who is favored to win a 10th title in the coming days, right?
“Not at all,” Auriemma says. “That’s where the market is. Kevin is probably exactly where he needs to be. Or maybe less than he needs to be, who knows? It’s what the market will bear for those guys, and I’m all for it. Sometimes there is talk about a cap, but that’s not workable. This is America. Anyone should be able to make all they can.”
“On the women’s side, there isn’t the same kind of revenue,” Auriemma says. “We aren’t getting a part of the CBS contract that March Madness brings. We’re at a different level. I don’t ever use that Title IX crap about how I should get paid what Kevin gets paid because we do the same job. I’ve never bought into that or believed that for one moment since I started coaching.”
“I tell Geno all the time it isn’t that I value his championships less,” athletics directorWarde Manuel says. “But when you’re setting the end part of the bell curve and you’re at the farthest end, it’s really the market speaking more than where we value you.”
I get that things are different when it comes to women’s athletics and that they don’t generate nearly as much revenue as the guys, but you would think a guy with nine national titles would be compensated more. Auriemma is the bar when it comes to women’s college hoops, and while he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, he is worth much more than what he is getting paid.
