Kathy Auriemma remembers an empty gym at the Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell as the first place she laid eyes on her husband Geno, the renowned Connecticut women’s basketball coach, writes Mike Jensen for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I was a cheerleader,” Kathy said. “He was a basketball player.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

After playing the sport as a second-stringer at MCCC, Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown as the son of Italian immigrants, moved on to coaching and classes at West Chester University. While working overnight and coaching hoops, though, he was left with little time to study.

After losing a coaching opportunity at New Mexico for not having a college degree, he re-enrolled at WCU, and took night classes. After he graduated, a job offer arrived from Virginia coach Debbie Ryan, and Geno and Kathy picked up and moved to Charlottesville.

Auriemma’s career has been on upward trajectory ever since. He landed his current UConn gig in 1985, and has since won 11 national championships, putting him among the greatest college basketball coaches – men or women – of all time.

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