Jonathan Czupryn, NY Times (http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/sports/ncaabasketball/at-uconn-lessons-to-respect-the-past.html?_r=0)

Whether it was his environment or simply a stubborn personality, Auriemma had hope in 1985, when he took over a program that had had just one winning season in 11 years of existence.

Today, none of the current UConn players can remember a time when the program’s expectation was not a national title. Auriemma’s first title, in 1995, actually predates the births of some of his current freshmen.

The UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey makes her current student-athletes learn about the players who have come before them. Dailey, who has sat by Auriemma on the bench since he took the job 30 years ago, speaks of the past generation of Huskies as if they were fallen soldiers who deserve respect, honor and remembrance.

“There’s a price that had to be paid to get us to this place, and we’re not going to just be disrespectful to those players,” she said, adding: “So the way they play, they have a responsibility not just to each other, but certainly to the players before them to play a certain way and to act certain way and to be a certain way, and they’re held to that.”