Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Geno Auriemma’s congratulatory call to Mo’ne Davis ruffled some feathers

Geno Auriemma

Geno Auriemma

AP

This summer has been a busy one for 13-year old Mo’ne Davis, whose pitching exploits during her team’s run to the Little League World Series resulted in increased attention for the event. For Davis, the days following the LLWS have included a meeting with Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, throwing out the first pitch at a Dodger game and meeting both Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner during the just-completed WNBA Western Conference Finals.

What also came from Davis’ experiences with the Taney Dragons was the nation learning that she would like to play point guard at UConn when the time comes. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma got in touch with Davis, giving the Philadelphia native some words of encouragement during the LLWS. Yet while the conversation had been cleared as being well within NCAA rules since Davis isn’t considered to be a recruitable athlete at this time, an unnamed school reported UConn for a violation of NCAA rules.

Here’s what Auriemma had to say about the matter according to Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register:

“One of the funniest things I have ever heard. I will probably get in trouble for saying this but somebody from the Sixers called and contacted some friends I know and said this kid is great, this kid loves basketball and I think congratulations from Coach Auriemma would really go a long way to helping this kid,” Auriemma said. “I go and get contacted by some people with Little League World Series and say is it OK if she calls you. I said ‘how about I just call and you tell her I said congratulations.’ I call the office and (they said) ‘you know Coach, she is standing right here.’ I said ‘put her on the phone, I want to say congratulations.’ I say congratulations. She is 13 and the conversation lasts about two minutes and she hangs up. How about a school turned us in as a recruiting violation because we are not allowed to talk to her until July 1 of her junior year (of high school) but that is the world that we live in.

“It shows you what is wrong not only for things that go on but also with some of the people that I coach against.”


According to UConn, Davis wouldn’t be considered a recruitable athlete per NCAA rules until she begins high school. Davis will be an eighth grader this school year. It should also be noted that Auriemma stated that he’s never seen Davis play basketball.

Of all the things to report, an brief conversation between a coach and an eighth grader is taking things too far. How’s anyone to know what kind of basketball player Davis will be in a couple years? This appears to be one of those situations where the unnamed school (the school that reported the possible infraction doesn’t have to go public) could have simply gone on about its business.

Follow @raphiellej