Geno Auriemma offended by UConn’s postgame pizza: ‘Pizza Capital of the World my ass’

Geno Auriemma had a hankering for some good pizza after UConn’s win Thursday night, but what he got was cardboard with sauce on it.

Reporters expected to get Auriemma in a good mood after the Huskies beat Villanova by nearly 50 points. Instead, the head coach walked into his press conference primed with a rant about Connecticut pizza. And before all the New Haven pizza fanatics rush to attack Auriemma, he seemed to be more upset about what was specifically served to UConn, not all Connecticut pizza.

Geno Auriemma opened his postgame press conference with a scathing review of Connecticut pizza 😂🍕 pic.twitter.com/Z4uVDMgym4

— UConn Women’s Basketball Videos (@SNYUConn) January 16, 2026

“Pizza capital of the world my ass,” Auriemma griped as he sat down for his postgame presser. “Excuse me. Just commenting on the pizza that they bring to our locker room. I think they brought it at shootaround this afternoon. Poured some red stuff on the box and called it pizza. Don’t believe those signs when you come into Connecticut, ‘pizza capital of the world.’ It’s bullsh*t.”

Based on the rant, it couldn’t have been New Haven pizza that was served in the UConn locker room, right? Which prompted a reporter to do some real journalism by asking, “It wasn’t Pepe’s?”

“And we have Pepe’s up here, and we can’t get it,” Auriemma fired back. “At least until now, we’re gonna get better pizza. I promise you. I’ll bring some for you guys to taste it. the good stuff, when we get the good stuff, not the crap they’re passing off as pizza now…no, no. Being Italian and being from Philly, no. I’m sorry. It doesn’t live up to the standards of UConn or the state of Connecticut.”

Auriemma has been the head coach of the women’s basketball team at UConn for more than four decades. He transformed women’s college basketball and became an icon at UConn. And he just now, after 40 years, is taking a minute to have some say in the pizza that gets delivered to the team? That seems like it’s on him.

There are bad pizza places everywhere. The New York City dollar slices, now $1.50, aren’t indicative of the type of pizza that’s being served in Manhattan. Similarly, even the Pizza Capital of the World has bad pizza. It’s nice of Geno Auriemma to finally take some pride in what’s being served to his basketball team.