Camp Geno breaks today. The current incarnation of the U.S. women's national team, coached by Geno Auriemma, leaves today for Ekaterinburg, Russia to take on a group of club teams in an invitational tournament.
Following six days of training camp in Washington, the 13-player roster was selected for Monday's flight. It includes 2008 Olympians Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Candace Parker, as well as newcomers Swin Cash, Tina Charles, Shameka Christon, Candice Dupree, Lindsey Harding, Ashja Jones, Crystal Langhorne, Angel McCoughtry, Renee Montgomery and Candice Wiggins.
This is Auriemma's first chance to serve as the head coach for the program -- a stint he will continue through the 2012 Olympics in London.
It's a chance he's always coveted and he's not shy about admitting that. Not that the Huskies coach is shy about much.
"I always wanted to do this," Auriemma said Thursday.
Auriemma served as an assistant coach under Nell Fortner in Sydney in 2000 and has worked extensively with USA Basketball in the past. And he's built such a powerhouse program at Connecticut (six national championships and all), it was obvious that is should be his turn for the job last held by Anne Donovan, who led the U.S. to the gold medal in Beijing.
When this opportunity came, he didn't think twice.
"Carol Callan called and I answered the phone and said 'yes,' " Auriemma said. "She said, 'I wanted to ask you...' and I said, 'Yes.' " Auriemma becomes the first college coach since Stanford's Tara VanDerveer to take over the women's national team.
VanDerveer took over in 1995, leaving her Cardinal program for a year to lead the American women to an unbeaten record and ultimately a gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
"It's not the same as it was when Tara did it," Auriemma said. "It won't ever be like that again."
But the juggling will still be substantial. Auriemma will be back from Russia just in time for practice to begin at Connecticut. The national team will gather again late next spring after he is through with the college season.
And next year's World Championships take place in September in the Czech Republic and he will be home in time to go back to the sidelines for the Huskies. In other words, Auriemma family vacations could be few and far between for a while.
"It will be busy, but this is something I want to do and it keeps me involved with the game at another level," Auriemma said.
Auriemma is taking over the U.S. team at a time of transition.
Stalwarts such as Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson are out of the program. Auriemma is looking for new players, particularly in the post, to take over.
He has young, but experienced stars such as Fowles and Parker.
His camp invitations included players such as Indiana Fever forward Ebony Hoffman (who couldn't attend because of the WNBA Finals), Charles, who starred for the U.S. team in the World University Games over the summer, and Stanford standout Jayne Appel (who can't participate because she's recovering from summer knee surgery). Auriemma is also going to Russia without Diana Taurasi and Tamika Catchings as well as Cappie Pondexter, all playing in the WNBA Finals. But his Russia roster includes five former Connecticut players.
Auriemma said Monday that he is anxious to get on the court with this team, lay the foundation for next year's World Championship team and find out which young WNBA players are part of the national team's future.
"I know we know how to practice and I know we know how to do drills," Auriemma said. "Now we're going to find out if we can take that, transfer it over to game situations and see if I can identify those players who know how to win."
Wiggins, the Minnesota Lynx guard said she is excited to work with Auriemma for the first time in her career.
"Geno is the man. It's my first time playing for him and he's probably one of the easiest people I've ever had to play for my whole life," Wiggins said. "I think he's the perfect guy for this. He's going to get the best team together. He's going to have everybody playing hard."
