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Auriemma says he’s feeling better after hospital stay

NCAA Connecticut Final Four Basketball

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma listens to a question during a news conference at the women’s Final Four in the NCAA college basketball tournament Monday, April 4, 2016, in Indianapolis. Connecticut will play Syracuse in the championship game on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

AP

NEW YORK (AP) Geno Auriemma is feeling a lot better.

The UConn women’s basketball coach spent a few days in the hospital last week after taking himself off a plane on April 16.

“It started the week of the Final Four. It got worse when I got home,” Auriemma told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. “I thought I was over it and then I was laid up for three or four days.

“Lot of tests, lot of fluids, lot of different things that I was just exhausted and run down. The flu part was real. The bronchial infection was real. The other stuff. Maybe I was holding it back for a month. Just got me.”

The 62-year-old coach had boarded a plane to go speak at a clinic in Chicago. He said he decided to get off the plane because he wasn’t feeling well.

“I knew something wasn’t right and I wouldn’t be able to make it through the flight,” he said.

He went to the hospital and they admitted him. He was released three days later.

Auriemma, who is 955-134 in 31 seasons at UConn, had been sick since UConn won its 11th national title earlier this month. The illness forced him to miss the team’s victory parade in Hartford and he didn’t accompany the team when it was honored by lawmakers at the state Capitol. He did make it to the WNBA draft to see Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck get picked 1-2-3.

The Hall of Fame coach has a busy summer ahead as he will try and guide the U.S. women’s Olympic team to a sixth straight gold medal in Rio de Janeiro this August. It’s his second stint in charge of the Olympic team.

Once that’s done he plans to head back to UConn. He laughed at rumors over the past few weeks that he may retire or leave UConn to take an NBA job or men’s coaching position.

“I didn’t watch TV, read the paper, check the internet, didn’t do anything in the hospital,” he said. “When I got out, all this was news to me. I was probably as surprised as anybody. Nope, I’m the coach of Connecticut and that hasn’t changed.”