Geno Auriemma Weighs In On WNBA's Controversies, 'It's A Shame'

As the WNBA faces more and more criticism amid its rising viewership, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma is saddened by the way things have turned against the league.

In an interview with TODAY this week, Auriemma called it "a shame" that the attention that the WNBA has craved and worked for so long has manifested in all of the worst ways. He said that he wishes people would focus more on the incredible teams, level of play and rising young stars rather than "these hypothetical things."

“It’s a shame because for years we’ve wanted more attention paid to women’s sports, craved the attention, wanted it, deserved it, and it never came to the extent that it is today,” Auriemma said. “And now the attention unfortunately is on the wrong things.

“So they need to figure out a way to bring the attention back to the incredible young players that have come into the league, the incredible teams that are in the league, the level of play, how much it’s changed.

“Let’s talk about the game instead of these hypothetical things that may or may not happen down the road."

Auriemma has coached all of the WNBA's UConn alumni and coached against many of its biggest stars in the NCAA Tournament through the years. But he isn't interested in getting into the weeds as far as the controversies the league has been facing recently.

“I have a thing at Connecticut. If it doesn’t impact winning, I don’t want to talk about it. So what’s this have to do with winning?” he remarked.

State of the WNBA

Controversies that the WNBA has had to deal with just this summer include officiating over flagrant fouls, off-the-field conversations on transgender athletes in sports and coaches showing sufficient support for their players in press conferences - just to name the most prominent examples.

Granted, nearly all of those questions center on the Indiana Fever. It was an uncalled foul on Caitlin Clark that triggered the first big conversation on officiating, then it was Sophie Cunningham who sparked the conversation on transgender athletes in an ESPN interview, and most recently it was head coach Stephanie White who courted the controversy by not being more emphatically defensive of Cunningham after she was hard fouled in a game.

Perhaps the issue has less to do with the WNBA itself and more with the specific people that one team has put together.