Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma and Cheryl Reeve keep Philly at the forefront of women’s hoops

MINNEAPOLIS — There’s still no WNBA team in Philadelphia after all these years. And while Villanova and Drexel have had some headline-getting seasons recently, none of the local women’s college teams have achieved the kind of resonance that regularly puts them in a national spotlight.

But ask anyone whether Philly matters in women’s hoops, and the answer will be an immediate and resounding yes.

The proof can be found this week across town from where the Eagles won the Super Bowl, and where Delran’s Carli Lloyd played her last game for the U.S. women’s soccer team.

Here in the Twin Cities, three of the best and most important coaches in women’s basketball are under the same roof at the Target Center for the Final Four.

From North Philadelphia, Dawn Staley, who has raised South Carolina over that bar and brings the nation’s No. 1 team to the national semifinals. The Gamecocks, this tournament’s top overall seed, will face fellow No. 1-seed. Louisville in Friday’s first game (7 p.m., ESPN); and Staley has won three national coach of the year awards this week.

From Norristown, Geno Auriemma, leader of the Connecticut dynasty that has set the bar for the sport for decades, and keeps raising it. His Huskies, a No. 2 seed after some midseason hiccups, will face No. 1 seed and reigning national champion Stanford in Friday’s second game (9:30 p.m., ESPN).

And from South Jersey, Cheryl Reeve, a four-time WNBA champion with the Minnesota Lynx and leader of the No. 1 team of all, the U.S. women’s national team. She’s one of this weekend’s unofficial hosts, holding a star-studded U.S. training camp at the Lynx and Timberwolves’ practice facility across the street from the arena.

» READ MORE: 'An award like this means that you’re lending hope to other Black coaches,' Dawn Staley says

There’s plenty that they don’t have in common, with all three having distinct backgrounds as players and coaches. But there’s certainly enough that they share, including an appreciation of their places at the top of their sport.

“I’m not surprised to be sharing a space with Geno and Cheryl,” said Staley, who has never been shy about flying the proverbial flag — and wouldn’t it have to be kelly green — for her roots.

“We’ve been raised the right way, in the right pedigree, when it comes to being super competitive and finding ways to be successful,” she added.

Auriemma has watched Staley’s entire career as a player and coach, and almost all of Reeve’s, in his 37 years with the Huskies. (Staley arrived at Virginia in 1988; Reeve arrived at La Salle in 1984; and he started at UConn in 1985.)

“It’s no surprise to me, Dawn having grown up there and coached there at Temple, and being the Olympic icon that she is, and now coaching a team that’s won the national championship,” Auriemma said. “And Cheryl right now is the most successful WNBA coach that’s coaching, and she’s our next Olympic coach.”

» READ MORE: Cheryl Reeve is coaching the next era of U.S. women’s basketball stars

Auriemma’s women’s basketball coaching resume goes back even farther than that. He started as an assistant at Bishop McDevitt High from 1976-78, then got his first college job as an assistant at St. Joseph’s in 1978.

After one season on Hawk Hill, he spent two seasons as an assistant at Bishop Kenrick High (to Phil Martelli, coincidentally) from 1979-81. Then he returned to the college ranks in 1981 to take an assistant job at Virginia. He was there until 1985, when he got the UConn job that he has had ever since.

One of the sparks for it all was the Immaculata College team that this year is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the start of its dynasty. The “Mighty Macs” won three straight national championships from 1972-74, and players such as Theresa Grentz and Marianne Stanley later became Auriemma’s friends and coaching rivals.

“They were the original ‘Showtime’ Lakers on the women’s side,’” Auriemma said. “You could say Pat Riley and Cathy Rush were cut from the same cloth, and all the Hall of Famers that they had on that team. And that happened to be when I was living there and going to school there.”

Reeve was elevated to the U.S. head coaching job last December after a few years as an assistant, and is contracted to be at the helm through the 2024 Olympics. She was preceded by Staley (2017-20), and Auriemma had the job before that (2009-16).

“For me, it’s really cool just because of the high level” that all three coaches are at, Reeve said.

Now, of course, since we’re talking about Philadelphia, all three coaches brought some terrific humor to their remarks.

“Philadelphia has a reputation,” Auriemma said, “most of it good.”

In describing the city’s grand basketball tradition, he said, “It’s a great high school basketball town, it’s a great college basketball town. The Sixers, for the longest time — at least when I was a kid and after that — played for NBA championships and had iconic players.”

While the Sixers have finally gotten back to the NBA’s big-time this year, another item Auriemma touched on hasn’t changed.

“They cheer their winners better than anybody, and they boo their losers better than anybody,” he said. “They’re passionate, and when you have a passionate place, you’re going to produce passionate players and coaches, and certainly Dawn and Cheryl are that.”

Each of the three spoke separately, but entertained the same theory.

“Sports is a lifestyle in Philadelphia — we live and we die off of the highs and lows of the Sixers, the Flyers, the Eagles, the Phillies,” Staley said. “And because we put our sports teams under the gun so much, we know that we ourselves will be under the gun. So we just prep well. We also have tough skin to be able to handle whatever’s thrown at us.”

Reeve finished the trifecta off.

“Dawn is Philly through and through, Geno’s a little more suburbs, I’m South Jersey, but we claim it all,” she said. “We’re all Philly, we’ve got Philly in us, and yeah, it’s a fun torch to carry.”

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