- Retired Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw accused UConn of benefitting from ESPN's media bias.
- Huskies coach Geno Auriemma snapped back at his former foe with "I guess Muffet's bored."
- "The bias has to do, if there is any, with the 11 national championships, which is a lot more than two."
Muffet McGraw started a feud with UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma, a former foe from her days as the legendary playcaller for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Two weeks later, the 11-time national champion poured gasoline on the fire.
During a recent episode of the "Off the Looking Glass Podcast" with Kate Fagan and Jessica Smetana, McGraw accused UConn of enjoying "absolutely complete bias" from ESPN and the media at large.
—Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) December 22, 2021
Auriemma didn't take kindly to the implication that his program's reputation was not 100% earned, so he fired back with a charged, targeted tirade during a radio appearance on 97.9 ESPN.
"I guess Muffet is bored," Auriemma said. "I guess she didn't have a whole lot to talk about and usually when she was coaching, when she did talk, nobody listened anyway."
The 67-year-old coach patently disagreed with McGraw's characterization of ESPN's bias towards the Huskies. The network's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut — just a stone's throw from UConn's home of Storrs has nothing to do with any perceived favoritism, he said.
Instead, Auriemma believes the Huskies' history of domination in the women's game and their large, devoted fanbase affords them regular coverage from ESPN and other media outlets.
"I think the bias has something to do — if there is any — with the 11 national championships, which is a lot more than [Notre Dame's] two," Auriemma said, then continued. "If people didn't want to watch us on television, I'm sure they wouldn't put us on. If we didn't generate the ratings, I'm sure people wouldn't have us on."
"I do want to thank the people at ESPN for helping us win those 111 in a row," he added sarcastically, referencing his team's undefeated streak from 2014 to 2017. "I mean, if it wasn't for them, there's no way that we could have done it. So hopefully there's some people over there that can take some credit for that. I don't know what we would have done without them."
Auriemma didn't stop there. He continued roasting the retired Hall of Fame coach for saying UConn "won more than anybody except Tennessee."
"I think she missed Sesame Street growing up," Auriemma said, implying that McGraw can't count. "Eleven [national championships] is more than [Tennessee's] eight."
The Huskies are experiencing a rough patch at present. Since sophomore point guard and 2021 consensus women's college basketball player of the year Paige Bueckers injured her leg during the final minute of UConn's December 5 win over Notre Dame, the Huskies have fallen out of the top-10 of the AP Poll for the first time in nearly 17 years.
On top of losing two of its last three contests, UConn is also struggling with a COVID-19 outbreak within its program. The Huskies have now postponed their first four conference games of the season due to pandemic-related complications.