Geno Auriemma and Jeff Walz exchanged some playful banter before Tuesday’s national championship game that revolved around the Louisville coach’s wardrobe.
Auriemma, the longtime UConn coach, observed that Walz was wearing a red and white checkerboard shirt while coaching the Cardinals in the Final Four. He remarked that it looked like a tablecloth at one of his Italian restaurants.
“He is the cockiest guy that I’ve ever met,” Auriemma said of Walz.
“He wears an Italian tablecloth of a shirt today. I was going to hire him for my restaurant,” he joked.
Walz gave it right back to Auriemma, only he laid on the sarcasm extra thick.
“As a women’s basketball coach, you go through times where you’re always wondering what you want to do when you’re finished. I’ve been to three national championship games. Now that I’ve got the opportunity to be a waiter at his restaurant, I don’t know what the hell else somebody wants in life. My goal is to become the head waiter. Not just one that sits in the back — I want to be the best damn one he’s got.”
Auriemma has led UConn to 14 Final Four and seven national championships (Update: he won his eighth on Tuesday) since taking over as head coach for the 1985-1986 season. Walz took over at Louisville for the 2007-2008 season and has already reached two championship games. Something tells me he doesn’t have to worry about being a waiter anytime soon, though, it was pretty funny to hear him mess with Geno.
