Dan Hurley reveals how shut he got here to leaving UConn

[ad_1] Dan Hurley contemplated leaving UConn for the NBA after the Huskies gained back-to-back nationwide championships two years in the past, and the coach says he thought-about an exit once more on the conclusion of final season.

Hurley’s new e-book “By no means Cease: Life, Management, and What It Takes To Be Nice,” which he co-authored with Ian O’Connor of The Athletic, is ready to be printed on Sept. 30. In it, Hurley admits that he got here near stepping down as the top coach at UConn following the 2024-25 season.

Hurley mentioned he considered “taking a niche yr” and resigning due to the emotional toll the season took on him. The 52-year-old discovered himself second-guessing all the pieces and questioning whether or not he put the Huskies in one of the best place to turn into the one crew aside from UCLA to win three consecutive nationwide titles.

“I knew my thoughts, and I knew my physique, and I may really feel that I used to be fully cooked,” Hurley wrote, through Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. “Simply burnt. I didn’t even understand how I used to be standing. I stared on the workplace partitions, muttering, conducting a brutal overview of our season. I didn’t construct a powerful sufficient roster. I wasn’t a superb chief.”

Hurley went on to say that he “let everybody down” through the Maui Invitation firstly of the season and misplaced management of his feelings on too many events. He was referencing when he price UConn a win final November by exploding on the officers and being referred to as for a technical foul.

“It was unhealthy to be ruminating this fashion. I used to be unhealthy,” Hurley wrote. “I desperately wanted to get out of city, flee to my commonplace hideaway, Dorado Seaside in San Juan. I wanted to do some therapeutic, not take into consideration basketball for a couple of days. However that wasn’t doable on this new period. The switch portal and NIL offers made each school participant a free agent, so proper after the event I wanted to be in my workplace, in Storrs. If I left city proper then, I wouldn’t have a crew for the 2025-26 season.

“At that time, I wasn’t even positive that I'd return for the 2025-26 season.”

Hurley mentioned he even had discussions with Fox Sports activities about probably changing into an analyst. He spoke with former Villanova coach Jay Wright, who up till lately had been working for CBS since he retired from teaching. Wright informed Hurley that Wright was truly comfortable quite than being “sick to his abdomen 9 months of the yr.”

Finally, Hurley determined that he cherishes his job an excessive amount of to go away. He mentioned a few of his notorious profane moments which have been captured simply present that he's a human and never “some unbreakable machine programmed to hunt and destroy opposing groups and officiating crews.”

Hurley was supplied a contract to turn into the top coach of the Los Angeles Lakers previous to final season. He turned it down and signed a brand new cope with UConn, although he mentioned the choice was genuinely gut-wrenching.

The feelings that Hurley has skilled lately are regular for any coach of an elite program. He merely wears them on his sleeve, which has turn into each a blessing and a curse for him.