BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Things do change in the Connecticut women’s basketball program.
For years, associate head coach Chris Dailey’s signature drink was Diet Coke. While Dailey admits she still drinks the carbonated beverage during games, her tastes have turned to a different option. These days, Dailey, who is in her 31st year as a member of Geno Auriemma’s coaching staff, prefers freshly brewed idea tea from Panera.
It doesn’t matter if you call Dailey a brew master or a mixologist. She has her routine — she will get a tea after she works out in the morning and before she goes to the office — and her way to make the tea so it tastes just right.
“I have a couple a day (from the Panera location in Manchester, where she lives, which is about 25 minutes from UConn’s campus in Storrs),” Dailey said Friday. “I do put Splenda in it and lots of lemon, but I am trying to cut back on that so I put more lemon in.”
Dailey’s healthier habits show things do change when it comes to the nation’s top women’s college basketball program. At 10:30 a.m. Saturday (ESPN), the habits of Dailey and No. 1 seed UConn (34-0) will be on display for all of the world to see when they take on No. 5 seed Mississippi State (28-7) in the Sweet 16 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Everyone in the UConn program knows Dailey’s tastes have changed. Auriemma joked Friday at his team’s news conference that Dailey doesn’t let anyone forget she is an integral part of the program and that she has played a significant role in helping UConn win 10 national titles.
All kidding aside, though, Auriemma said Dailey’s attention to detail has been a key ingredient to the Huskies’ ascension.
“It’s the fact that there’s no detail that goes unnoticed,” Auriemma said. “Whether it’s a scouting report of tomorrow’s game against Mississippi State, whether it’s a recruiting thing, whether it’s something in practice that we have to do, whether it’s an appearance that we have to make, whether it’s a meeting that we have to be at. Something with the administration. Something with alumni. Something with — it doesn’t matter what it is, whatever it is that we have to do, there’s absolutely no detail that goes unnoticed, unchecked. It’s been like that for 30 years. And it’s unwavering. It’s unwavering.
“The reason why the players like me better is because I tell them you can do whatever you want because I know the minute I say that, all hell’s going to break loose, and they’re not going to be allowed to do anything because she will clamp down on it.”
On Feb. 27, Dailey received the ultimate honor when she was inducted into the Huskies of Honor, a program that started during the 2006-07 season and pays visible tribute in Gampel Pavilion to the top student-athletes, coaches, and contributors in UConn men’s and women’s basketball history.
UConn senior Morgan Tuck and the rest of her teammates knew Dailey was going to get honored prior to the game against Tulane. She said afterward there is no question Dailey deserves to be included in the prestigious group.
“I thought that was very cool,” Tuck told Carl Adamec, a longtime UConn women’s basketball beat writer for the Manchester Journal Inquirer. “She didn’t know so it was really nice. She definitely deserved it. Out of everyone in the program, and, of course, coach (Auriemma), I think CD deserved it. She has had a huge impact on and off the court.
“CD is kind of like the mother where every little thing she’s going to point out. She’s doing it to help us be better people. Off the court, we are dressed up and look nice and know how to carry ourselves and act, and that is because CD is big on those type of things. She does more than just make you a better basketball player. She makes you a better person.”
This season, there has been no one better than UConn. The three-time reigning national champion Huskies are riding a 71-game winning streak. The Huskies have advanced to the regional semifinals each of the past 23 seasons. UConn owns the best NCAA tournament winning percentage (105-17, .861) and is 17 wins from passing Tennessee for the most NCAA tournament victories all time.
Dailey has been at Storrs for all of the NCAA tournament victories. The first came on March 16, 1991, in an 81-80 victory against Toledo at Gampel Pavilion. Powers like North Carolina State, Clemson, Auburn, Alabama, Virginia, and Stanford fell before UConn beat Tennessee to win its first national title in 1995.
Since then, UConn’s national profile has increased thanks to a run of great players that includes Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Kara Wolters, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Tina Charles, and countless others. All of them have had to work with Dailey and learn to follow the guidelines she sets.
“Geno and I decided a long time ago the things that were important in building our program and maintaining our program and not wavering from that,” said Dailey, who has a background in teaching. “That starts with having good people and having kids who are polite and appreciative. … I was always told and taught that you start out really strict and as your students understand the responsibility and gain your trust, you give them more responsibility. I think that is the same thing that happens.
“When we first started, I probably didn’t let them make any decision, any choice, anything because I was setting the tone. As the years have gone on, it is different. What I learned was nine times out of 10 they will choose what I want them to do if I give them a choice.”
Dailey said she has learned the importance of giving her players “ownership” of the program. She said that helps the players understand how hard they need to work to be the best and how they need to act. For example, Dailey said she tells all of the players to stand up and introduce themselves to members of the media they talk to in the locker room. When a reporter told Dailey last year it was OK for the player he wanted to talk to to stay seated, she said it wasn’t. That is the kind of attention to detail Auriemma was referring to, and it is the same kind of standard all of the Huskies have to live up to.
“You should have certain expectations of players, and we have expectations,” Dailey said. “I guess I am willing to, but coach is, too, and (assistant coaches) Shea (Ralph) and Marisa (Moseley) are willing to enforce. I don’t want to say enforce because people make it sound like I have 100 rules. It is just about being polite, or doing the right thing, or doing what you are asked. They know what is expected.”
Dailey sets those expectations with less Diet Coke in her system. In its place is a mix of freshly brewed iced tea she concocts on each trip to Panera. As much as she appreciates the hard work of the people in the drive thru, Dailey, who has a Panera locator on her phone, trusts more in her ability to make her tea just how she likes it.
Over the years, scores of Huskies have earned that trust from Auriemma and Dailey and have helped the program to the gold standard in women’s college basketball. She said it means a lot to hear someone like MSU coach Vic Schaefer say UConn’s greatness can be attributed to the fact that Auriemma, Dailey, and all of the coaches get the best out of their players.
“I would be lying if I said we live in this utopia and everything is happy and we do all of this,” Dailey said. “You’re working with 18- to 22-year-old college students. It is a struggle at times, what they want and what they’re willing to do to get that not always matching up, so you’re constantly saying, ‘If this is what you want, this is what you have to do. Do you still want this?’
“You try to put the onus on them. Geno and I have said this 1,000 times, if we don’t win another national championship, I will be happy and thrilled and proud that we won 10. Our push is always to give the next kid — like Katie Lou (Samuelson) her first or (Breanna) Stewie (Stewart) her fourth — the opportunity to accomplish their goal. It is not my goal. I never thought we would get 10. It is not about that for us, it is about helping them and them being willing to give up a lot of themselves to get this big, team goal. It is not a utopia. We get good kids. They want to work hard. Are there struggles with that? Absolutely. Do they want to work hard all of the time? Not always, but that is why they have coaches.”
UConn has been blessed to have one of the best lead them into unchartered territory of greatness.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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