Connecticut won the NCAA women's basketball national championship last night, and water continues to be wet. The Huskies were downright rude to their competition in their destructive path to this title, winning tournament games by scores of 101-49, 97-51, 98-38, 86-65, 80-51 and, on Tuesday night, crushed Syracuse 82-51 for the title.
On Twitter I threw out the observation that the only apt comparison to Geno Auriemma's reign atop women's basketball's Iron Throne is one that doesn't actually exist.
But what of the real world? If one were to draw a line from Auriemma's run to one in the modern era of college football, what would it be?
First, let's take a brief rundown of what Auriemma has accomplished at Connecticut: 11 national championships, 21 conference tournament championships, 16 Final Fours, 21 Elite Eights, 23 Sweet 16s, and 27 tournament berths in 30 tries. He's won four straight national championships and lost once in the past three seasons. UConn has posted four undefeated seasons in the last eight years. The Huskies haven't more than five games since 2005, and haven't lost more than 10 since 1993. They haven't missed the Final Four since 2007, haven't missed the Elite Eight since 2008, and haven't lost in the tournament's first weekend since 1993.
Auriemma holds a 955-134 overall record -- good for an ungodly .877 career winning percentage. Since 1994 he's 793-56 (.934) and since 2009 he's 298-12 (.961).
If Auriemma was a football coach, who would he be?
- His recent run of four straight titles and 12 losses in eight seasons is reminiscent of Bud Wilkinson's mid-1950's run at Oklahoma, when the Sooners won 47 straight games while pitching 22 shutouts and holding 34 opponents under 10 points.
- His spat of 14 Final Fours and 10 national championships in 17 seasons parallels to Bobby Bowden's rampage from 1987 through 2000, when he led Florida State to 14 straight top-4 finishes, 14 straight 10-win seasons, 13 New Year's Day bowls and two national championships.
- His stretch of 27 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths compares to Nebraska's NCAA record streak of 33 consecutive seasons with nine or more victories, spanning from Bob Devaney in 1969 all the way through Tom Osborne's tenure and to Frank Solich in 2003.
- Auriemma's current neighbor is, of course, Nick Saban and his current run of eight straight 10-win seasons, eight straight top-10 finishes, eight straight seasons earning a No. 1 ranking, eight straight New Year's Day bowls, four SEC titles and four national championships.
Wilkinson, Bowden, Osborne or Saban? Which one is it? The truth is, to truly encapsulate Auriemma's blinding resume, you can't just pick one. You have to pick all of them.