No Distractions: Hurley Says UConn’s Mindset Is Locked on a Potential Third Championship
Dan Hurley of UConn, whose team crushed Purdue in the national championship game on Monday night, became the only men’s college basketball head coach to have won back-to-back NCAA titles. However, he was subsequently had to deal with reports that he was departing for another position, something that very few coaches on that list had ever had to do.
Hurley was reportedly at the top of Kentucky’s list of candidates to succeed John Calipari after the latter’s unexpected departure for Arkansas. Hurley, the coach of UConn and a native of New Jersey, played down his interest in the position during his postgame press conference on Monday, citing his wife Andrea as a key factor.
“Oh my God, Kentucky or anywhere that’s going to take her further from New Jersey,” Hurley told reporters. “I mean, we just went to Rhode Island, which I had to drag her to, and then to Connecticut. I got her closer. And now further? I can’t afford a divorce right now, too. I just started making money. … The last thing I’m thinking about is another place.”
Hurley elaborated on those remarks when he spoke with Colin Cowherd on “The Herd” on Wednesday. Hurley responded to Cowherd’s question about what he would do if someone offered him a “Brinks truck” full of money to become their school’s next coach by saying that it would be “flattering” but not a guarantee.
“I’ve come a long way since being a high school coach 15 years ago, and I haven’t had to kind of work my way up the ladder and the business as a coach the way coaches did it back a long time ago,” Hurley said. “But I’ve got a long career of turning down jobs or more money to stay in places that I was happy at and that fit me and that would provide me the resources to, at that level, achieve the things you want to achieve.
“Right now at UConn, my relationship with [athletic director] Dave Benedict and what the place means to us — the opportunity to go for a three-peat right now, it’s the only thing that is obviously on anyone’s mind here. So I just can’t see that being a thing.”
Hurley has not stated outright that he would not attend Kentucky, but it seems the program is concentrating on Baylor coach Scott Drew, a different past national champion, who Mitch Barnhart, the athletic director of the Wildcats, and other officials are supposedly meeting with on Wednesday.
Dan Hurley says priority is ‘going for a three-peat’ with UConn
Hurley, however, is presently content with his position above the sport and declared with confidence Monday night from the trophy platform that UConn “has been ruling college basketball” for the past 25–30 years, having won 10 titles in women’s basketball and six in men’s basketball since 1999.
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Hurley has every right to say that after his strategy stopped 7-foot-4 Zach Edey of Purdue from being an offensive threat and prevented his teammates from being able to assist him on defense. Purdue, one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country the previous season, shot only 1-for-7 from outside the arc despite Edey’s 37 points and 10 rebounds. On the opposite end of the court, UConn forced Edey out of the paint with its spacing abilities, allowing the Huskies’ guards to easily outscore their smaller Purdue opponents.
Dan Hurley explains UConn’s gameplan for Zach Edey, Purdue
“Usually, I’d say going into like 95% of games, Colin, you’re trying to take away the other team’s best player, right?” Hurley explained to Cowherd. “But just studying Purdue’s season, what you were gonna open yourself up to was, he’s gonna score one-on-one a lot — the size, the skill, the strength, the experience, he was going to get his anyway. But then once you start doubling and bringing help and digging the ball out, now you open things up for the others to now put them over the top with the [offensive] production. So the mindset was keep [Huskies center Donovan] Clingan of foul trouble and just blanket the 3-point line and basically, make them one-dimensional.”
Hurley’s strategy proved effective, as evidenced by his second consecutive national title and widespread reputation as one of the best coaches in the sport.