Hurley shoots down coaching rumors
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Luke Murray is coming back. Kimani Young, too, and most likely Tom Moore, as well.
Arguably the best assistant coaching staff in America will run it back next season for the UConn men’s basketball team’s run at a three-peat. Murray and Young confirmed so after Monday night’s national championship win over Purdue.
But what about the head coach, Dan Hurley? An awful lot of rumors out there that he’d be perhaps the No. 1 choice at Kentucky, where John Calipari shocked the world Sunday night by bolting to Arkansas.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a concern,” Hurley said on Monday night. “My wife, you should have her answer that. She’ll answer that question better than I can.”
Andrea Hurley, the Jersey Girl who once said she “channels my Jackie Kennedy, but I can go to Snooki in five seconds,” in Lexington, Kentucky?
Don’t think so. Dan Hurley will be back at UConn next season. Kentucky will have to conduct its search elsewhere.
UConn athletic director David Benedict understands Kentucky’s interest in Hurley.
“Obviously, Kentucky’s one of the all-time great programs,” Benedict said on Monday night. “He’s put himself in a position that there’s no big-time program that, when they talk to ADs and ask who’s on your short list ... if you’re a place like that, to not have Dan Hurley on your short list? Look, we’ve been committed since he arrived, we’re going to continue to be committed and do everything we can to support winning championships. He knows he can do that here, he just did it twice in a row. So, we hope that he wants to be here until he’s done coaching.”
Benedict has been proactive in re
negotiating coaches’ contracts before they even get a chance to talk to other programs. He indicated that that will likely be in Hurley’s very near future.
“Look, you want to get the season over. Dan’s not the type of person that’s going to start talking about
things seriously during the season. He didn’t do that during the search process where we eventually hired him. So, there will be conversations about how do we continue to have success.”
Hurley insisted that there is a problem with a cell phone, so he hasn’t had any incoming (or outgoing) calls or text messages over the past 24 hours. He was
displeased, however, about the Calipari news breaking on the eve of the national championship game.
“College basketball needs a commissioner,” Hurley said. “It’s the greatest sport, we’ve got the greatest sporting event. We’ve got NIL, which is gonna keep players in college longer, which is gonna allow for a deeper connection to fan bases and to the
game. The portal situation, we’ve got to get that under control. But we just can’t do things to take away from what is such a great game. Dropping news like that the day before, or the day of ... somebody told me about it, because my phone doesn’t work.”
Even without the riches Kentucky can offer, Hurley will be more than able to afford a new phone.