STORRS, Conn. — Geno Auriemma spent four decades making UConn the standard for women’s basketball.

The school will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Wednesday evening. The Huskies coach, along with longtime assistant Chris Dailey, will be honored before his second-ranked team takes on Fairleigh Dickinson.

He is currently tied with Tara VanDerveer for the most wins in college basketball history with 1,216. It would be a monumental upset if he didn’t succeed against the Knights.

UConn has planned all-day celebrations for Auriemma and Dailey with more than 60 alumni, including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Rebecca Lobo, expected to attend. Nearly twenty of them played in the WNBA.

Former UConn players were part of the school’s record 11 national championships won. UConn has reached the Final Four 23 times, including in 15 of the last 16 seasons. They will participate in a pre-match ceremony.

There’s also a petting zoo with goats across the street from the arena as well as ice cream from the famous UConn Dairy Barn. They created a “Legend-Berry Legacy” flavor in honor of both coaches.

“He gives credit to everyone around him, and he doesn’t really take it for himself,” Huskies star Paige Bueckers said. “But what he built here, it’s here because of him, so he’s definitely downplaying it.” He doesn’t want to do everything: the party, the goats, the ice cream, all of that is an extra for him. But he deserves it, and we want to celebrate him, because he doesn’t get celebrated much. So everyone around him will make sure to get this work done.

Auriemma began his journey with UConn in 1985 and currently has a record of 1,216-162 in his career. He only had one losing season in his career – his first with the Huskies. Before coming to the school from Virginia, the program had only one winning season.