| Geno Auriemma Head Coach UConn Women's Basketball Geno Auriemma is the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. He has led the Huskies to numerous National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I National Championships. Before Auriemma, the Huskies had posted just one winning season in their entire history. They quickly rose to prominence after Auriemma was hired in August 1985: they finished 12-15 in Auriemma's first season, his only losing season at Connecticut. Since then, Connecticut has finished above .500 every year, including numerous undefeated seasons. The team has been especially successful on its home court in the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut; they tied an NCAA women's basketball record with 69 consecutive home wins between 2000 and 2003. Moreover, between Auriemma's arrival and the close of the 2005 season, they won 295 games versus just 31 losses. At Gampel, the team has set Big East Conference records for both single-game and season-long attendance. Auriemma is also known for his success in cultivating individual players who would go on to tremendously successful careers including Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Kara Wolters, Nykesha Sales, Svetlana Abrosimova, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and Diana Taurasi. | |
| Lindsay Gottlieb - Moderator Head Coach Cal Women's Basketball Since Lindsay Gottlieb earned her first head coaching job in 2008-09, only 14 coaches have taken their team to an NCAA Final Four appearance, with Gottlieb becoming the eighth coach on that list after leading her 2012-13 California squad to a 32-4 record that included the program’s first Pac-12 regular season championship as well as the first Elite Eight and Final Four bids in 40 years of California women’s basketball. Doing so in her second season in Berkeley, Gottlieb became just the seventh coach since 1990 to coach her team to the Final Four in her first two seasons at the helm of a program. The Bears followed the success of the historical 2012-13 season with an NCAA Tournament bid in four of the next five seasons. Gottlieb enters the 2018-19 campaign – her eighth in Berkeley and 11th overall as a Division I head coach – with an overall record of 215-115, including a mark of 159-76 in her seven seasons at Cal. Gottlieb’s 159 wins are the second-most by any head coach in Cal women’s basketball history. | |
| Steve Kerr Head Coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr is a professional basketball coach and former player. In 2014, he became the Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors. Kerr is a five-time NBA champion, having won 3 titles with the Chicago Bulls and 2 titles with the San Antonio Spurs as a player, as well as 3 titles with the Warriors as a head coach. He has the highest career 3-point percentage (45.4%) in NBA history for any player with at least 250 three-pointers made. He also held the NBA record for highest 3-point percentage in a season at 52.4% until that record was broken in 2010. In April of 2015, Kerr broke the NBA record for the most regular season wins for a ‘rookie’ coach. The Warriors went on to win the 2015 NBA Finals, making Kerr the first rookie coach to win a championship since the 1982 NBA Finals. On April 13, 2016, the Warriors broke the record for the most wins in an NBA season, breaking a record previously held by Kerr's 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls. The Warriors returned to the Finals for three straight years, losing in 2016 and winning again in 2017 and 2018. | |
