TUESDAY,APRIL8,2003
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN - 13B
UConn women try to repeat as champs
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Tennessee's Pat Summitt is the stern disciplinarian with an icy glare, yet her players consider her a surrogate mother.
Connecticut's Geno Auriemma is the ultimate agitator, a wise-cracking needler who enjoys zinging friend and foe alike. Who else would call Summitt's program the "Evil Empire?"
Different personalities to be sure, but two intensely competitive coaches with the same goal. Their teams meet tonight to decide the national championship in women's basketball, the latest installment of the sport's hottest rivalry.
Tennessee (33-4) has six titles but none since 1998. Connecticut (36-1) has won two of the last three championships and three overall.
"Strictly from good theater, you couldn't ask for a better match-up." Auriemma said.
That theater extends to the coaching rivalry. Both insist they don't dislike each other. They even chatted for 15 minutes or so yesterday when they crossed paths in the Georgia Dome.
But friends? Hardly. Summitt invited Villanova coach Harry Perretta and his team — the only one to beat Connecticut this season — to her house for a cookout before the Mideast Regional in Knoxville. The East Tennessee mountains would turn into flatland before Auriemma secured such an invite.
"We're not talking on the phone every week," Summitt said. "As a matter of fact, we don't talk on the phone. But I would just say that you have a great rivalry and certainly a coach that I respect tremendously."
Auriemma caused a stir when he needled Perretta, one of his good friends, over his relationship with Summitt, saying the Villanova coach had "dumped me for the Evil Empire."
Hey, Auriemma pleaded, lighten up. He was just having fun.
"I live in Connecticut and I'm a Red Sox fan," Auriemma said. "If you talk about Tennessee, they are the Yankees and Pat is George Steinbrenner. We make fun of it."
"There is nothing evil about them — unless you live in Connecticut. Her program speaks for itself and her reputation certainly speaks for itself. Throwing snowballs is part of what you do in a tournament. We are just throwing a couple of snowballs at each other."
Summitt's reaction to how she was characterized?
"Well. I have been called a lot
worse in mv career," she said.
That's the thing about Auriemma. It's hard to tell sometimes when he's joking and when he's serious. Junior guard Morgan Valley said she didn't get it straight until her third season with the Huskies.
"He would say stuff and I would cry." Valley said. "That's the one thing you never want to do. You never want to let him see you cry. Then you get adjusted to him and realize he does it to everybody."
Added guard Maria Conlon:
"You just have to take a lot of that lightly. When he's not digging you or not saying anything about you, that's when you should be worried."
This is the third NCAA title game between the coaches; Connecticut won the others, in 1995 and 2000. The Huskies beat Oklahoma last year and are 3-0 in national finals.
Doherty about next job: It's all fit for me
The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Matt Doherty wanted to leave his mark on North Carolina basketball. This is not what he intended.
Doherty believes he made major mistakes by changing items from assistant coaches, to office computer equipment, to the lobby entrance when he took over the storied program three years ago.
In the end, those changes contributed to Doherty losing his job, as several factions — including some of his players — turned on him in the final moments before his resignation Tuesday.
"It's a very political job, and that I was naive toward — not that it was political — but to the degree that it was," Doherty said in a 30-minute telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Doherty did have one ally who was loyal to the end Ford,who apparently called athletic director Dick Baddour hours before Doherty stepped down to see if Doherty could salvage his job.
Doherty has also heard twice from Kansas coach Roy Williams. Williams had his Jayhawks in the national title game last night, but had had to fend off questions
about a possible return to coach the Tar Heels.
"I told him I'm sorry this happened at this time and I didn't know why they couldn't have waited a week," Doherty said. "And I told him no matter what he decides I'm behind him 100 percent."
So what's next for Doherty?
He hasn't ruled out getting back into coaching soon. He also may try broadcasting.
"It's all fit for me," Doherty said when asked about future jobs. "There are places that are at a major level that are great jobs and there are jobs you can turn into great jobs. That could be exciting too. Look at Ben Howland, he
turned Pitt into a great job. The timing was right. That was happened at Notre Dame. Where is there kind of a sleeping giant? That would be a pretty neat opportunity."
Doherty said he would even return to coaching as an assistant.
"I would love an opportunity to work for an established head coach. I've learned in the Carolina system,I've been in that system for a long time now and I think it would pretty neat to learn another system and then maybe take the best of both.Maybe I could add something to someone else's staff."
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