Geno by Geno Auriemma

Author:Geno Auriemma [AURIEMMA, GENO]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO004000
ISBN: 9780446554916
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2008-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

There are some gifts in life that you learn to appreciate almost immediately.

When Diana Taurasi signs with Connecticut, I know she is one of those gifts.

Sometimes, when you recruit a top player, you really don’t know how it’s going to go until the final days. I know that’s how I should feel with Diana, because she’s the most highly sought-after player in the country. But I feel like we have the inside track after the first phone call.

My assistants aren’t as sure. They have a strong sense that UCLA, which is half an hour from her house, is the front-runner.

That may have been true. All I know is the first time I talk to Diana we just click. I talk to her very pointedly, and she talks to me the same way. There is no bullshit, no sickly-sweet “Oh, you’re the greatest” kind of nonsense. Obviously Diana is a terrific player. The first time I see her, I know. She has it all—the talent, the confidence, the presence, the toughness. She scores 3,047 points for Don Lugo High School in Chino, California. I watch her play at an AAU game, and she is amazing.

So I call her up to let her know we are interested, and at first she sounds kind of blasé. Bored, even. She is the best player in the country and she’s getting calls from absolutely everybody. I tell her a little bit about our program, and then I say, “Diana, if you work really hard, and do what we ask of you, you have a chance to be really good.”

All of a sudden, it’s like a light switches on. Suddenly she becomes very animated and conversational. She starts asking me all sorts of questions about Connecticut. Later, Diana tells me she is tired of everyone telling her how great she is and how special she is. This is a kid from California who could turn around tomorrow, sign with UCLA, and start as a freshman. In fact, she probably could start anywhere—

except Connecticut. “Coach,” she tells me later, “you were the first person who didn’t guarantee me everything. You were the first person who said I’d have to work to be good.”

We go for the home visit, and it goes very well. Dee’s parents are immigrants. Her father, Mario, was born in Italy, in a village not unlike mine. Lili, her mother, was born in Argentina, and met her future husband when his family moved there when he was a young boy. Just like my parents, the Taurasis speak in broken English. Their primary language at home is Spanish.

As I’m talking to Dee, I realize we have gone through some of the same experiences. When your parents are in a new country, and they don’t know the language very well, you find yourself doing things for them most kids don’t have to do. Dee talks about having to help pay the bills, to make sure her parents aren’t getting cheated, having to order the meals in a restaurant because her parents can’t read the menu.

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