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Connecticut knows Geno Auriemma as a man for all seasons, especially the basketball season, a voice to provoke us, soothe us, humor us on most any topic.

We ask the Hall of Fame coach things, different things, everything. UConn even asked him to be a virtual commencement speaker when COVID-19 prevented anyone from attending graduation live. Yes, he can even entertain an empty room.

People are asking me what Ive discovered during this quarantine thing, Auriemma said Wednesday. I discovered Superman isnt Clark Kent. Jack Bauer is Superman.

This shows you how whacky my life has been all these years. Im watching 24 for the first time. How old is that TV show? It started 18-19 years ago. Im up to Season 6. How far were they ahead of the times? They had two black presidents before Obama. Im fascinated by the level of technology (in counterterrorism). If thats what was happening in 2002, what in Gods name is happening today at those places?

While the sports world waits, Auriemma has become more dedicated to his workouts. The golf course is one place hes still allowed to be himself and not have to talk to anybody. He learned how to Zoom and now hes dangerously close to being Zoomed out. He learned how to do Instagram Live, has done a few of those. The other day there was a glitch on Villanova coach Jay Wrights end, caused a bunch of complaints and led Auriemma to say, Ive noticed people are really mean on social media.

He goes on eating the same things for breakfast and lunch. He throws on the same pair of pants.

My biggest realization the past 21/2 months, Auriemma said, is how little I need to live on.

After Auriemma was asked to give the graduation speech earlier this month, he had a conversation with his 88-year-old mom Marciella.

In her own Italian way, she was telling me why she hates whats going on and how God is mad at everybody, Auriemma said. Shes like, Our time is over. This is horrible for the kids. She was distraught about what she was seeing on TV and how her granddaughter and great-granddaughter had to speak to her through the screen door.

He tried to offer his mom some perspective.

Im like, When you were 13-14 you were chased out of your house by the German soldiers and you and your brothers and sisters went up in the mountain and built a shelter and lived there for a couple weeks. You thought it would never end and no one would survive it and you did.

Every Italian family in America had two portraits in their house: Pope John XXIII and JFK. Shes in the U.S. for two years and JFK is assassinated. She sent me to school wondering if a nuclear bomb was going to hit. Were hiding under our desks. We thought the world was coming to an end.

Through the Great Depression, World War II, the decade of Vietnam and Civil Rights, 9/11 and now to high school and college seniors in 2020, Auriemma had this message for UConn graduates, for all young people:

Generations are defined by the events of that time. All those people figured out a way to learn from it and make something better out of what happened. You will look back at this as a monumental time. You are being thrown into a dangerous situation for you in the world, very uncomfortable. This is an opportunity for people today to be on the cutting edge of something to change the world.

Do I need to go to the mall three times a week? Do I really need to be online ordering more stuff? How much can I do without? What am I willing to do to change? What am I doing for other people? What am I doing to make my neighborhood better? Am I going to be responsible, stay home when Im supposed to and wear a mask?

Auriemma, 66, immigrated to the U.S. when he was a kid. Americans, he said, are similar to Italians in one sense: When laws are passed in Italy, each Italian thinks they have the right to decide if the law applies to them. In the case of COVID-19, having learned a hard, deadly lesson, Italians bought into social distancing and masks.

Americans are so individualistic, the entire basis of this country is individual freedom. If I dont want to wear a mask I dont have to wear a mask. You dont have to if you dont want. However, if you not wearing a mask makes me sick, you are disgrace to humanity.

We all have this vision of whats best for us? Always. Always. Whats best for me? When I vote its what is best for me. I never take in account the bigger picture. I have been thinking about this and its funny how it works. Im thinking people wont vote against giving teachers a raise anymore. After teaching their kids in their own house for two months, every single parent is going, These teachers arent getting paid enough. My kids are jerks. And now youre saying this poor teacher has to deal with my kid and everyone elses kid. God bless them.

Auriemma was a political science major. He loves history, loves to read about it. From Caesar to Napoleon to Kennedy, you name it. He is haunted by what he sees today.

You come across an idea now and you go this is a great idea, Auriemma said. But then someone goes, If you do that, it will label you a Democrat, a liberal. Just because I like the idea? This is a great concept. Lets try it. Well, that means youre a Republican, a conservative. Why? Why cant I have thoughts that fluctuate as I try to balance my feelings about what is right or what I prefer. Why cant I be somewhere in the middle?

Why cant I say I like some things in Column A and some in Column B. But if I like something in Column A, it doesnt mean I hate everyone in Column B. Thats the world adults have created for our kids. Were raising a whole generation of people who dont trust anything about anybody, anywhere, anytime. Or the opposite. They trust everything someone says regardless whether its true or not. There is no, let me figure out what parts are part of my belief system.

Auriemma stops to ask whatever happened to a great moderate Republican or a conservative Democrat? He continues on his roll.

We have allowed people the freedom that this country entitles you to ruin our lives in so many ways, Auriemma said. You have the freedom to do it. The Constitution allows you to ruin my life. The Constitution gives the president the freedom to go on television and essentially accuse someone of murder. Theres no repercussion. None. Zero. That used to be unthinkable.

And now we have a blink-of-the-eye mentality. You look real quick and turn away before you see the negative. Or you look real quick and you see tremendous negatives but if you stayed a little longer you would have seen the positives. Were not conditioned to that anymore. Were conditioned to react to the first thing we see and forget doing any kind of research or future reading. So here we are.

Yes, here we are with Geno the restaurant owner. One who recently closed Genos Grille in Storrs. One who owns Caf Aura in Manchester that has donated many meals to healthcare workers.

This is all you need to know about what Im talking about, he said. Someone posted a review of a restaurant on one of those review boards. The restaurant hadnt even opened yet.

He was a dishwasher in high school. He worked as a bartender. He stocked supermarket shelves from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. He drove a truck delivering produce. Got into Philly at 5 a.m. He saw what the supply side looked like and what those workers are paid in order for people to have food on their table or a meal at a restaurant.

But youre a kid and you made life better for yourself because you had a couple of bucks in your pocket, Auriemma said. From owning a restaurant, I see there are people working those jobs who are tying to raise a family, pay a mortgage, send their kid to school, pay health insurance.

The restaurant business brings to life how widespread the tentacles are when a restaurant closes, when the restaurant industry goes into the kind of downfall that it has. What the effects are. What I learned is there is no going back to where we were in some cases.

That doesnt mean the permanent end of a New York-style restaurant where people are sitting close together. That will return at some point.

You cant have everyone sitting six feet apart with plexiglass between forever, Auriemma said. If we wanted that Id go to an office building and ask someone if I can use their cubicle. Thats not happening. Whats going to change is how we treat people who stock shelves, cashiers, servers, cooks. A lot of the restaurant people I know in the business, we laugh at this immigration policy. Listen, Im an immigrant. I came to America from across the ocean. There was no sneaking in for me. I cant swim the length of a pool.

I understand the uproar on illegal immigration. Im a big proponent that weve got to fix the whole system. But anyone who thinks theyre going into any service industry sees the value of what they bring with goods and services. How these people actually live and try to survive. Were going to have to figure out a way to value jobs that to this point were seen as non-essential or inconsequential. The guy who delivers your packages, your mail, the bus driver, the train conductor, anybody who gets up every morning to makes sure your life is better that we tend to take for granted.

Auriemma went over to Rentschler Field with his staff recently to help Foodshare distribute goods to those in need during the pandemic. His eyes were opened by the long lines.

To see all the people come through looking for a way to eat that week, Auriemma said. Somebody at the end of February was OK, paying rent, getting in their car going to work, and a couple of months later they have none of it.

History is rife with underrepresented, underappreciated masses of people rising up and changing the world they live in. I dont give a damn if you go back to the Roman Empire, the American and French revolutions. The word is built on societies that are sick and tired of one group of people deciding the fate of the other three quarters of the people. At some point its going to get like the movie Network: I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore! Thats what Ive learned through this.

jeff.jacobs@hearstmediact.com; @jeffjacobs123

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Jeff Jacobs: What Geno Auriemma has learned about himself and society during the pandemic - CT Insider