{"id":571186,"date":"2026-04-08T05:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T05:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571186\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T05:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T05:40:09","slug":"dawn-staley-asks-for-fans-to-turn-the-page-after-speaking-to-geno-auriemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571186\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawn Staley asks for fans to &#8216;turn the page&#8217; after speaking to Geno Auriemma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dawn Staley is done with the Geno Auriemma drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The South Carolina women\u2019s head coach pleaded with Gamecock fans, imploring them to \u201cturn the page\u201d on the feud between her and Auriemma that <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/03\/sports\/geno-auriemma-dawn-staley-get-into-fiery-confrontation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">burst into the public realm during their Final Four victory<\/a> over UConn.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the college women\u2019s basketball season behind us, it\u2019s time to move forward and close the chapter on how our semifinal game with UConn ended,\u201d Staley said in a statement Tuesday. \u201cI spoke with Geno, and I want to be clear \u2014 I have a great deal of respect for him and what he\u2019s meant to this game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39020366\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2269961467.jpg\" alt=\"South Carolina coach Dawn Staley yelling during a game.\" class=\"wp-image-39020366\"  \/>South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley motions towards the court against UCLA during the second half of the women\u2019s National Championship Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament game, Sunday, April 5, 2026, in Phoenix.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne moment doesn\u2019t define a career, and it doesn\u2019t change the impact he\u2019s had on growing women\u2019s basketball. The standard at UConn is what it is because of him, and that\u2019s something this game has benefited from.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I\u2019m asking everyone to turn the page. Let\u2019s refocus on what matters most \u2014 continuing to elevate our game, creating opportunities and pushing it forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s always been my mission, and it\u2019s not changing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Staley and Auriemma got into it after the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/03\/sports\/south-carolina-gets-revenge-in-gritty-final-four-upset-to-end-uconns-perfect-season\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gamecocks ended the Huskies\u2019 undefeated season<\/a> as the two shook hands postgame in a wild on-court incident that made rounds on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Auriemma reportedly took offense that Staley supposedly didn\u2019t shake his hand in time before the game, leading to the spat after the game.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39003043\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP_NCAA_South_Carolina_UConn_Basketball_54363-b0e2b-0-1.jpg\" alt=\"Coaches Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma yell during an NCAA basketball game.\" class=\"wp-image-39003043\"  \/>South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, left, and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma argue after a woman\u2019s NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Phoenix. AP<\/p>\n<p>After South Carolina\u2019s national championship game loss to UCLA, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/06\/sports\/dawn-staley-geno-auriemma-hasnt-reached-out-after-handshake-argument\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Staley said she still hadn\u2019t heard from Auriemma<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a Geno question, I have not heard from Geno,\u201d Staley told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s UCLA\u2019s day. Let\u2019s keep it there. We\u2019re not gonna damper UCLA\u2019s day with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/06\/sports\/dawn-staley-geno-auriemma-hasnt-reached-out-after-handshake-argument\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Auriemma would apologize<\/a> in a statement for the dust-up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cI want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina. It was uncalled for in how I reacted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dawn Staley is done with the Geno Auriemma drama.\u00a0 The South Carolina women\u2019s head coach pleaded with Gamecock&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[4044,2083,37762,102534,229929,3789,1782,99,31478],"class_list":{"0":"post-571186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-college-basketball","9":"tag-dawn-staley","10":"tag-geno-auriemma","11":"tag-march-madness","12":"tag-march-madness-2026","13":"tag-ncaa-tournament","14":"tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uconn-huskies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}