Dawn’s Dynasty? Auriemma’s Empire? Iconic UConn, South Carolina coaches duel for title

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TAMPA, Fla. — After UConn’s anticlimactic semifinal win, redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy, the Huskies’ 6-foot-5 starting center, stood at her locker Friday night in a search for words to encapsulate the abundant appreciation. Not just because she’s heading to the national championship game. But for the first time in her Huskies career, her parents were there to watch her play.

“I can’t believe this is real,” she said.

Her father, Ehab, and mother, Dina Gouda, made the journey of more than 6,500 miles from Cairo, Egypt, to Central Florida to watch their only daughter total six points, eight rebounds and four steals in 23 minutes of UConn’s 85-51 demolition of UCLA.

Because some five years ago, in the days when her father — head coach of the Egyptian women’s national team — wouldn’t let her play with the women because she wasn’t ready, El Alfy got her first glimpse of UConn. And then she saw Breanna Stewart play for UConn, though the games were hard to get in her nation, and she learned the legacies of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. At 16, she took an official visit to Storrs, Conn. At 17, her parents put their daughter into the care of Geno Auriemma, a coach whose reputation reached across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

“Oh yeah, they’re good friends,” El Alfy flashed a smile and widened eyes when asked about her father liking Auriemma.

“In the basketball field (back home),” she explained, “UConn is famous. Everybody knows UConn. Back home, it’s not as easily accessible to watch the games. Not everybody is going to be like, ‘We’re watching the women’s tournament. Or the men’s.’ Soccer is really famous. But to the people that play basketball, they know him very well.”

The brightness of the UConn program, built on the foundation of its cornerstone steward, has been a beacon of women’s basketball for decades. Now, 30 years after Auriemma won his first national championship, he’s one game from winning his 12th. Nine years after his last championship.

It’s an occasion to take inventory on his impact on women’s basketball, with recognition that his abrasive charm and blunt brilliance won’t grace the sidelines eternally.

On Sunday, Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma will coach against each other in the 2025 National Championship game.

Auriemma holds an 8-5 overall head-to-head record against Staley, including a 1-1 postseason record. pic.twitter.com/WoriA184ik

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 5, 2025

In a fitting end to a season that saw women’s college hoops discover a new crescendo, across from Auriemma will be the woman most worthy of bearing the torch. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley is a win away from her fourth championship. A dynastic feat that elevates Staley to a new stratosphere. And this time, her Gamecocks are not the Goliathian figure. Which means her third crown in four years would have a special bling to it. A shimmer worthy of a matriarch.

“She’s just an icon,” UConn superstar Paige Bueckers said of Staley. “She’s a winner at all levels. She’s a legendary coach. A legendary player. And she just does so much for the game in terms of visibility. How well spoken she is and how great of a leader she is. How great of a role model she is. She just does a ton for the game. Everybody around her respects her. She has everybody’s respect.”

Auriemma just turned 71 two Sundays ago. Staley is a month shy of 55. Sunday’s national championship game is certainly a battle of supremacy. But it’s also a portrait of where the sport has been and where it’s going, illustrated by two of the greatest coaches to ever do it. Geno and Dawn. The elder statesman and the prodigy. The way paver and the pavement enhancer.

“The fact that we have Philadelphia connections,” Auriemma said of Staley, “University of Virginia connections and all that USA Basketball stuff that we’ve done together. Yeah, it’s a nice story. But I don’t think Dawn’s going to give me any kudos or any breaks for the senior citizen that I am. I don’t think she’s going to have any sympathy for me come Sunday.”

Dawn Staley vs Geno Auriemma pic.twitter.com/cmmnENPekh

— NBA Slime (@TerryFranconia) April 5, 2025

And it’s why she’s worthy of the mantle. Because when Auriemma was the upcomer, his mercies were stashed far away from his opponents. They’re similar in so many ways.

Their fighting spirits. Their tenacity. Their honesty and willingness to say hard things. Their roots. Their ability to spot and handle stars. Their work ethic. Their communal spirits. Their down-to-earth personas that contradict their status.

Auriemma’s gravelly voice has been preeminent in women’s college basketball, and the pro ranks by proxy, since before his players were born. Unabashed with his opinions. Equal opportunity in his criticism. He’ll say what needs to be said, and even what doesn’t. But his respect level, curated by his track record and the skin he has in the game, gives his assessments considerable weight.

The college game is changing so rapidly, so significantly, that leadership will be important. The conscience of the sport, the integrity of the game, requires an ambassador. A trustworthy and dignified figure to help the game manage what it’s growing into, to advocate on behalf of the business and the players, of the fans and the ecosystem.

No one is better positioned than Staley. No orator better than her raspy voice.

These two power coaches have some differences in style. Auriemma goes with the classic suit, like he’s headed to dinner. Staley prefers the high-end magazine photoshoot look. Auriemma likes his ice beneath a bottle of wine, and Staley dangles hers from her ears. Auriemma calls out his players, even publicly sometimes, and finds a unique camaraderie with those who dish it back. Staley doesn’t pull punches but embeds her intense standards in an unmistakable warmth.

“The things she does for us,” South Carolina guard Raven Johnson said. “She wants us to be a great person outside of basketball. She teaches us life lessons. She prepares us for the real world. She’s a mother figure. She’s a home-away-from-home kind of person. There is no way you cannot love her. There is no way you do not want to win for her.”

And a win for Staley only bolsters the credibility of a coach growing into one of basketball’s great pillars. Capping their season with a win over UConn, the team that ran South Carolina out of the gym earlier this season, would be a most emphatic confirmation of the Dawn Dynasty.

A win for Auriemma exclamates a legacy so pivotal in the sport reaching its current heights. Even all the way to North Africa.

(Photos of Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley: Ben Solomon / NCAA Photos via Getty Images, M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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