Geno Auriemma endorses Jose Fernandez as Dallas Wings coach

STORRS — The UConn women’s basketball team has faced South Florida 34 times over the last 23 years, and every single meeting has been a clash between the same two coaches: Geno Auriemma and Jose Fernandez.

But when the Huskies play the Bulls in Tampa on Dec. 2, Auriemma will see a new face on the opposing sideline for the first time. After 25 years at the helm of the program, Fernandez was announced Tuesday as the new head coach of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.

Auriemma and Fernandez had been two of the longest-tenured coaches left in college basketball. Fernandez became South Florida’s head coach in November 2000, and he first met Auriemma earlier that year while both were on a recruiting trip in Pasadena, Calif. They became fast friends and have remained close ever since.

UConn and USF were conference opponents in the Big East from 2005-2013 and in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-20, and they have also met four times in nonconference play. Though the Huskies have an undefeated record in the long-standing series, Auriemma said it was always challenge to prepare for Fernandez’s teams.

“I’ve always thought he’s one of the best coaches in all of college basketball,” Auriemma said before UConn’s practice Friday. “Getting ready to play them is different than almost any other college team that you play … so I’m really happy for him.”

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Fernandez brings unique experience working with international players to the league. Twelve of 14 players on his 2024-25 South Florida squad came from three different continents overseas, and more than half of his roster was international in each of the last five seasons. The WNBA has seen a surge in international talent over the last several seasons, and Connecticut Sun coach Rachid Meziane became the first European head coach ever hired in the last season.

“He’s able to coach them a little bit differently because of their experience playing over there, so that’s why I think he’ll be great in Dallas,” Auriemma said. “He’ll bring some international players over, and he’s very sophisticated in the stuff that he does, which fits in well with what’s happening and what’s going to happen in that league.”

In Dallas, Fernandez will also have the opportunity to coach former Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Bueckers was the league’s rookie of the year and earned second-team all-WNBA honors averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. But the Wings struggled collectively finishing with a 10-34 record, and the franchise will once again have a lottery pick in the 2026 draft.

“I’m happy for Paige, happy for the whole organization,” Auriemma said. “He’s coming up here for a couple of days, so maybe I’ll get to pick his brain about some things. I’m sure he’ll ask me about Paige, and I’ll be glowing.”

Fernandez’s hiring in Dallas is part of a growing trend of longtime college coaches transitioning to the WNBA level. In 2024, Karl Smesko was hired by the Atlanta Dream after 22 years at Florida Gulf Coast, and the Los Angeles Sparks hired Lynne Roberts after nine seasons at Utah. Neither had any previous experience coaching professional basketball or at the FIBA level, but both translated smoothly to the WNBA. Smesko was the runner-up for coach of theyear, leading Atlanta to a 30-14 record and the No. 3 seed in the WNBA Playoffs, while Roberts’ Sparks finished one spot out of the postseason in ninth with an 21-23 record.

Auriemma said he isn’t surprised to see more and more coaches willing to make the jump to the pros from the NCAA, especially as the college landscape continues to change dramatically in the era of revenue sharing and NIL. For the first time in his 41 years leading the Huskies, Auriemma sees the WNBA as a more stable path for up-and-coming coaches.

“At least in the WNBA, there’s rules. You might not like them, and they might not be the best rules, but at least there’s rules,” Auriemma said. “Coaching in college, there are no rules, and the rules that they do have everybody breaks them. It’s not a great place to be working these days if you’re a young coach and you have an opportunity to go someplace else. For the first time since the league started, I can actually say I think the WNBA’s future is brighter than college basketball.”