Legendary has admitted that his retirement may come as a spur of the moment decision - and one that could arrive as soon as the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. In fact, he suggested he would have stepped away this year if Paige Bueckers hadn't opted to return for the next campaign. “One [WNBA eligible player] is coming back,” he told a community breakfast via . “I mean it’s gonna be my 40th year. It only would have been 39 if [Bueckers] wasn’t coming back.” Auriemma, 69, continues to demonstrate that age is just a number with his all-encompassing approach to life in charge of . The icon has been in his post for an astonishing 39 years. He celebrated his 1,200th career win earlier this year. One of the most successful coaches in
basketball history, he boasts a record-breaking 11 NCAA Division I national championship titles to his name. However, the storied figure cannot go on forever, with previous comments over reversing a decision to potentially retire indicating his current outlook on the prospect. Speaking previously when confirmed her intention to stay with the Huskies into the next season, Auriemma acknowledged that he was planning to depart "until Paige announced that she's coming back," before putting any speculation about 2024-25 to bed by adding: "Yeah, I'll be back." Later he admitted that working with the 22-year-old point guard is still motivating him as he comes close to completing four decades of service at UConn. He confessed: "Well, then you delude yourself. You become delusional. Because if I say to the kids we’re recruiting, ‘Listen, we’ve won 11 national championships and winning a 12th doesn’t change my life one iota? Do you think my legacy is going to change because we won 12 instead of 11?' "Who cares? However, if you come here and says, ‘Coach Auriemma helped me win my only national championship and I'm really grateful for that’ — OK, let me see if I can see this through. And if it happens, great. If it doesn't you go, ‘Got to go.’ But do you really want to leave that kid? And there’s always another kid and another kid after that.” The veteran coach also admitted to looking at figures such as and and wondering when the time will come that he too leaves the game he loves. He explained: "Everybody thinks they've got plenty left in them until that time comes when they go out and don’t have anything left in them. You just don't know when it is. And Pete Carroll," he said, as he made reference to the recently retired figure. "He’s out, too." Giving a candid response when weighing up the challenges posed by a stressful
Job as he enters the septuagenarian period of his life, he acknowledged: "There's going to come a time when I'm not going to jump off the bench and be pissed off at something like I was tonight, nonstop, about some of the stuff that we were doing and it was killing me." "I guess that either drives you out, like, ‘I don't want to put up with this anymore,’ and I'm sure there's probably days when all of us go, ‘That's it, I can't do this anymore,’" he continued. "That passes, and then I can’t wait to get ready. Just like playing careers have lasted longer, people are more productive for a longer period of time." Auriemma added: "Don't get me wrong, I think times have probably made some really good coaches get out earlier than they wanted to because of how difficult and challenging it is, and you have to make a value decision. Is it worth it? Is it still something I enjoy doing? And it can't be, ‘Well, what else would I do?' That's not the right reason to be in it.’"