Geno Auriemma And Aaron Hernandez

Hope you read John Altavilla’s piece the other day on Geno Auriemma talking about coaching Aaron Hernandez. Only a few days after winning the 2004 national title with the UConn women, Geno started coaching the Connecticut Nike Elite AAU boys team.
Auriemma’s son Mike was on that team. So was Damien Saunders. So was B.J. Monteiro. Some top-notch area talent. Among them was a kid named Aaron Hernandez from Bristol.
“Back in the day, we were close, our families,” Hernandez said at Super Bowl Media Day.
When asked by Kevin Nathan of WVIT [Channel 30] about similarities between his Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Geno, Hernandez answered: “Very serious and very disciplinary.”
Yes, I’ve always found Geno very serious, too.
“Aaron could have been a Division I basketball player,” Aureimma told Altavilla. “He was just a great athlete.
“When he signed with Patriots, I talked to him. I told him he better work hard because Coach Belichick is a no-nonsense guy. I told him no screwing around. And typical Aaron, what does he say? “Yeah Coach, Bill and I are cool.’ I’m thinking, you knucklehead, ‘Bill and I are cool?’”
I will have a column on Hernandez in the Thursday edition of The Courant.