Follow us on Google Discover UConn legend Geno Auriemma believes WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert can’t control what players say, but there is one thing she can do.
Look, the WNBA is practically suffocating under its own growth right now. Every single week, actual basketball gets shoved to the backseat so the internet can fight another exhausting culture war.
That frustration finally blew wide open when Sophie Cunningham took a sledgehammer to Cathy Engelbert’s leadership. Cunningham didn’t hold back, basically suggesting Engelbert is out of her depth and could halt the future progress and development of the WNBA.
When players are openly talking about replacing the commissioner, you know there’s an issue.
However, her job hasn’t been made easy by all the outside noise involving the transgender situation, and former NBA players like Enes Kanter and Royce White.
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Geno Auriemma tells Cathy Engelbert how to fix the WNBA issue
Geno Auriemma has been in the news himself for his treatment of Paige Bueckers in the upcoming UConn documentary, but now it’s his turn to give his current verdict on the WNBA (as per CNBC).
Specifically, he touched on the potential next steps for Cathy Engelbert.
An interviewer asked: “Is there anything that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert can do about it?”
Auriemma said: “People think that a commissioner can control each individual player or coach or influencer or anybody that has anything to say about the game, and really they can’t. But I think what you can do is you can constantly reiterate to the players and to all the stakeholders, how do we want to be perceived? How do we want to come across? We all want to be honest. We all want to be authentic. We all want to be truthful and stand up for what we believe in.
“You know, we’ve done that at UConn for the 41 years that I’ve been there. There’s got to be a way to get your message across that’s different, and maybe that is something that the commissioner can do. Is why don’t we talk about the message that we want to put out there? Why don’t we talk that part of the game that people really, really are coming to watch. Nobody’s coming to watch another protest movement. Nobody’s coming to watch another political statement. They’re not. They’re coming to watch a basketball game.”
Auriemma is throwing Engelbert an absolute lifeline here, and she’d be a fool not to take it. He’s calling out what everyone watching at home already knows: people tune in to watch basketball, not to wade through another talking point.
Look, nobody expects the commissioner to police what players say on their own time. But Auriemma is spot-on that the league has been completely passive, letting outside noise hijack their brand.
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