By Aidan Joly
Two months ago Saturday, UConn and Dan Hurley were at the top of the college basketball world again, winning a second straight national title, the sixth for the program since 1999 and becoming the first college basketball program in nearly two decades to go back-to-back.
UConn had the most national titles of any program in the past 25 years. With Hurley – a throwback college basketball coach, brash, bold and a showman – at the helm, it seemed like the program based in Storrs, Connecticut was in heaven.
That curtain was pulled back as we all woke up on Thursday morning, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that Hurley was in talks with the Los Angeles Lakers about becoming the franchise’s next head coach.
It is very, very important that note that nothing is done. According to Fox Sports’ John Fanta, Hurley did meet with the team Thursday morning to inform them that he was in fact in talks with the Lakers, but that nothing was done and it was business as usual.
It doesn’t always come to fruition with these things. In 2010, Tom Izzo was offered the chance to coach LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, but turned it down. The Lakers talked to both then-UConn coach Kevin Ollie and then-Kentucky coach John Calipari about the job in 2014 after they faced each other in the national title game, but neither got the gig. Billy Donovan even agreed to become the coach of the Orlando Magic in 2007 after winning back-to-back national titles at Florida, but changed his mind in the 11th hour and returned to Gainesville (of course, Donovan did end up leaving Florida to coach the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015 and is now closing in on 400 NBA wins).
College basketball is about the coaches. It always has been. Hurley is without question the best coach in the sport right now, and might be the best basketball coach at any level right now. He can stay and keep winning national titles. Jim Calhoun, the brash, defiant, intimidating man from South Boston, won three national titles there. Dan Hurley, the brash, defiant, intimidating man from Jersey City, has won two. Kevin Ollie had one, too, but didn’t do much outside of that. UConn is a “fit” job that needs someone who understands New England and what the program is about. Calhoun understood that, and Hurley understands that.
On the flip side of this: the Los Angeles Lakers is the number one brand in all of basketball and a top five brand in all of sports. When you talk about the biggest sports brands in North American sports the Lakers are right in that conversation, with the likes of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Celtics. Brad Stevens left Butler for the Celtics in 2013 after taking the Bulldogs to back-to-back national title games in 2010 and 2011. He’s now the president of basketball operations for the Celtics after a promotion in 2021. If the Lakers are courting you and are willing to give you a dump truck full of money, you at least listen.
UConn does have real challenges. State funding is a mess. Both of their venues – Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and XL Center in Hartford – are in desperate need of upgrades. The school is currently attempting to secure $100 million in state funding to upgrade the Storrs venue. The Big East has already been somewhat boxed out by football leagues in terms of revenue. UConn does have a football program, but it barely produces any revenue as an independent that hasn’t done much winning in the past two-plus decades. What it does mean, though, is that a larger percentage of revenue for Big East schools goes to basketball. There’s a silver lining there.
Plenty of great college basketball coaches have flamed out in the NBA. After winning more than 750 games in college, John Beilein didn’t even make it a full season with the Cavaliers in 2019-20. John Calipari went 72-112 in two-plus seasons with the New Jersey Nets. Rick Pitino had a successful season with the New York Knicks in the late 80s, but that was the only year he went above .500 in five full NBA seasons, resigning in Boston midway through a sixth year. People forget that Leonard Hamilton went a forgettable 19-63 in one year with the Washington Wizards in 2000-01. Lon Kruger only lasted two-plus seasons with the Atlanta Hawks in the early 2000s. Fred Hoiberg went 115-155 in three-plus seasons with the Chicago Bulls between college jobs.
Hurley’s personality might make it tough too, as venerable NBA players might not want to put up with it. He’d be coaching the most venerable NBA player of all in LeBron James, potentially his son Bronny, as well as Anthony Davis. Worst case, yes, he gets fired in a few years and takes the best college job available to come back to the ranks, but maybe he has success.
What it means for UConn: the school did give Hurley a major contract extension after the first title in 2022. If it does in fact end up needing a new head coach, the best way for continuity it to give it to either Luke Murray or Kimani Young, both very capable assistant coaches.
Dan Hurley is not someone who you just replace. But it would be foolish to ignore the history of the program and think a collapse is coming. It’s not going anywhere.
AJ Hoops 