“They Didn’t Know You All Were Hungover”: Sue Bird Reflects on Coach Geno Auriemma’s Unique Way of Motivating His Players

Sue Bird and Geno Auriemma have shared an illustrious basketball journey. Apart from winning two NCAA championships with the Uconn Huskies, they also won two Olympic gold medals with Team USA and a couple of FIBA World championships. In a recent interview, Sue Bird reminisced about her memories with Auriemma.

Making an appearance on Thanalysis Show, Bird shared a memory from 14 years ago with host Thanasis Antetokounmpo, involving her favorite coach, Auriemma. She looked back at an incident during the 2010 WNBA All-Star Break in August when Australia obliterated Team USA by 20-25 points during an exhibition game.

It was ahead of the 2010 FIBA Women’s World Cup in the Czech Republic. The USA players weren’t dialed in because they had been partying until late the night before their exhibition game.

Later, in September 2010, Team USA had to square off against a red-hot Australia in the second round of the FIBA World Cup. Bird recalled how Auriemma used their exhibition debacle to motivate the team.

He led the clarion call by declaring that the Australians would not be prepared for a USA beatdown, as they had only previously played a distracted version of Team USA. Sue Bird narrated,

“He sets the stage and he’s like, ‘You know last time we played Australia, they killed you guys. They got every loose ball’ and then he sums it up like, ‘But they didn’t know you were all hung over! So let’s go kill them!’ We were like, ‘Yeah!!’ We were like, ‘Where is he going with this’ and all of a sudden he drops that bomb. We were like, ‘Let’s go!’”

The motivational speech worked wonders as Team USA beat Australia 83-75 to finish at the top of Group E in the second round. They also won the 2010 FIBA World Championship in riveting fashion. This is among many Auriemma moments that Bird remembers fondly.

Sue Bird shared a hilarious Auriemma story

On Carmelo Anthony’s 7 PM in Brooklyn pod, Bird recalled a story about coach Auriemma from her UConn days. During a game against arch-rivals Tennessee, the Huskies had a terrible first half.

A frustrated coach Auriemma came up with a hilarious method to represent the Huskies’ lackadaisical first half. He used a hand gesture for an NFSW implication. Bird said, 

“He walks in the locker room, and he goes, ‘Do you see this? [lifts three fingers and forms a close circle between his thumb and index finger] … ‘This is all your a**ho**s right now’. And then he goes on the whole thing about you’re playing tight, you’re playing scared… You can’t laugh but you’re laughing, and you’re just like,’ Oh god, he just hit us with a tight b**ty.’”

It also shows that coach Geno Auriemma has a lighthearted side to him that allows him to connect with his players. This is one of the reasons Huskies alumni fondly remember their time with him and have a lot of stories to share.