The South Carolina and UConn coaches have a dozen national titles between them. They also have exactly zero losses in national championship games.
So, besides a winner, tonight will yield a newly blemished coaching record (as much as one’s record can be blemished by losing a title game). But it is worth remembering that for all of their pregame power, there is only so much a coach can do once the ball is in play.
“Once you get to tipoff, you kind of relinquish about 80 percent of the control to the players, and they now have the ability to win it or they don’t, and you can coach the best game of your life and lose,” said Geno Auriemma, who has won 11 championships as the coach at UConn, where he has been in charge since 1985.