It was late in Iowa’s thrilling win over Connecticut at the women’s Final Four last year, and, above the roar of the crowd in Cleveland, I heard someone call my name.

The familiar voice belonged to Thom Dartt, a good-guy high school ref in Toledo.

Just when I thought March couldn’t get any madder, here went nothing.

I asked Dartt if he was there for the Caitlin Clark Show.

Almost sheepishly, he unzipped his pullover to reveal a gray UConn shirt.

During a timeout, Dartt then gave me the drive-by version of one of the most amusing — and heartening — basketball stories I’d ever heard.

It was about a former coach who once adored Pat Summitt and the Tennessee Lady Vols — a guy who, in turn, so disliked legendary Huskies coach Geno Auriemma that he sent the brash bleepity bleep a fired-up email telling him why.

It was about Dartt, and, well, the guy had since become Auriemma’s unlikely pen pal and a UConn super fan.

“I know this sounds insane,” he said, “but …”

Hey, ‘tis the season of madness.

So I caught up with Dartt the other day to hear the rest of the tale.

If nothing else, it presents a humanizing portrait of the winningest college basketball coach of all time, along with a fun window into the mind of an admitted “psycho” sports fan and his "sacrilegious” hoops conversion.

Real quick, the backstory begins during the late-1990s heights of the Tennessee basketball dynasty.

Dartt, a Central Catholic and Toledo grad, was a hoops-loving young teacher in the Cleveland Public Schools system looking to break into coaching.

How to go about it? Like an aspiring artist reaching out to Picasso, he went straight to the best for advice, writing to the coaches at Tennessee.

Vols assistant Mickie DeMoss replied that he should start by working youth basketball camps, and, next thing he knew, he was working the big summer one at Tennessee. He did it the next seven summers, too, all the while getting in the game himself.

Dartt became a high school assistant, then landed side jobs in college, including as the volunteer director of basketball operations for the Cleveland State women.

He also became a big fan of the powerhouse Lady Vols and their larger-than-life coach.

“Absolutely loved Pat,” Dartt said. “She was the kindest, most loyal person you’d come across to all of us coaches at her camps. She would go so far out of her way for us. … She even went to bat for me for a couple of jobs.”

Well, when in Rome …

“If you were a Pat Summitt fan, you were basically obligated to hate Geno and hate UConn,” Dartt said with a laugh. “I hated them.”

So much that in 2010 after the Huskies won the national title — one of 11 for Auriemma — he had enough.

“Geno made some comment that people weren’t giving them the respect they deserve because they didn’t respect women’s athletics,” Dartt said. “And it was like, what are you talking about, man? That doesn’t have anything to do with it. It has to do with you. People don’t like you!

“And this is where I need to get a life, but I went to the UConn website, looked up his email, and sent him a note. ‘No … it has to do with you. It’s because you’re an [expletive].’

“Five minutes later, Geno responds. He’s like, ‘I’m an [expletive]? You just took time out of your day to email me? You’re the [expletive]!’

“It reminded me of my friends growing up the way we still talk to each other. It was total smack talk and I was entertained. I responded right back.”

And so began a most improbable correspondence.

From there, the emails — many of which Dartt was able to rummage up — continued.

In Dartt’s imagination, the easily caricatured coach was an arrogant jerk. In the back-and-forth messages, he was something a little different, displaying an endearing sense of humor and even humility.

After UConn had a 90-game winning streak snapped on Dec. 30, 2010, Dartt sent Auriemma an encouraging note, replete with a nod to one of their old summer jobs. (Both spent time on a roofing crew.)

“Roofing analogy,” Dartt wrote. “This doesn’t call for a tear-off and re-roof. A little caulk is all. I’m not a UConn fan by any stretch, but I have a feeling we’ll hear from you … when it counts. Does anyone remember what happened when Houston broke UCLA’s streak? UCLA won ANOTHER National Championship.”

“I hope ur right,” Auriemma replied. “Guess it’s an honor that it’s such big news when you lose huh? Happy new year. Send me some roofing tar!!!!”

In another email, Dartt alerted Auriemma to an up-and-coming prospect in the Dayton area. It was Kettering Fairmont freshman Kathryn Westbeld, who went on to star at Notre Dame. (He later wrote Auriemma about some eighth-grader named Zia Cooke after reffing one of her games at the Toledo team camp. “Quick, handles it, great vision, athletic.”)

“Thanks, dude,” Auriemma replied. “I’m sure u gave this to Pat [Summitt] last year and she’s had dinner with her already lol. I will make sure we follow up on this.”

“Hahahahaha!” Dartt wrote back before taking a swipe at Tennessee’s then-men’s coach, who was no stranger to NCAA violations. “Bruce Pearl isn’t recruiting her.”

Then came this thunderbolt a few weeks later after Dartt congratulated Auriemma on UConn advancing to the Final Four in Indianapolis:

“Hey dude. U coming to indy? Two tix for you at will call. Geno Auriemma.”

Dartt was floored.

Say what?!

“Even as I’m driving over to Indianapolis, I’m still like, no, no, no, Geno is a Philly guy ... he’s messing with me,” he said. “‘I’ll show you if you’re going to call me names.’”

In fact, Dartt was shown … right down to his seat in the UConn family section. He was in Section 4, Row 8, behind the Huskies’ bench.

UConn lost to Notre Dame that night, but Auriemma unwittingly won over a new fan.

“He didn’t have to be that kind,” Dartt said.

With that, he began to come around on the Evil Empire — a thaw that evolved into a full-blown, tape-every-game Huskies fandom after Summitt died at 64 in 2016 after a battle with Alzheimer’s.

“It would have felt sacrilegious that I would even entertain such a thought,” Dartt said. “I know we’re just talking about sports, but I almost felt like when Pat passed away, it gave me permission.”

Dartt — who officiates area high school football and basketball games and now runs a nonprofit that guides high school athletes through the recruiting process — has since stayed in occasional touch with the 70-year-old Auriemma, whom he has yet to meet in person.

If the frequency of the banter has declined, his affinity for UConn has not.

Nor has his admiration for the man behind the basketball empire.

As the Huskies set off on their latest NCAA tournament run Saturday with a cool 103-34 win over Arkansas State, he will be pulling for them like crazy.

After all, it is the month of utter madness.

I asked Dartt what he would have said 15 years ago if I told him he would root for UConn.

He laughed. 

“I’m a psychotic Michigan fan ... [so] it would be like if you said, ‘Tom, you’re going to be a diehard Ohio State fan,’” he said. “There’s no way! It’s the same exact feeling!”

First Published March 22, 2025, 10:08 p.m.