Report: Dan Hurley to face fine from Big East, won't be suspended after interaction with official

Following his ejection from a game against Marquette on Saturday, UConn coach Dan Hurley is apparently in line for a fine. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported late Saturday evening on the coming punishment for the outburst.

According to Norlander, the Big East plans to fine Hurley for his conduct involving an official in the 68-62 loss to Marquette. However, Hurley will not be suspended for the Big East Tournament.

Field of 68 reports that the Big East fine will be $25,000. Dan Hurley agreed to a $50 million deal over six years after leading UConn to back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024.

So what happened on Saturday, exactly? Hurley was ejected in the final seconds of Saturday’s shocking 68-62 loss to Marquette. It appeared as if Hurley made contact with referee John Gaffney, which led to the two-time National Championship winning coach getting the boot.

CBS’ Seth Davis chimed in on Hurley’s contact with the referee postgame. “There was contact between Hurley and ref John Gaffney,” Davis wrote. “Big East office is going to have to take a real hard look at that.”

Star guard Silas Demary drove to the basket for the potential game-tying layup and made contact with Golden Eagles forward Ben Gold, but no foul call was called on the play. It’s unclear if this is what Dan Hurley was arguing about. But whatever it was, boiled over onto the official right before the final buzzer.

“I didn’t think I bumped the ref,” Dan Hurley said postgame. “I thought I got close, to like, yelling at John. If John thinks I bumped him, then he’ll say I bumped him. But I don’t think I bumped the official. I think I yelled into the back of his head ‘foul, foul’. And then yeah, the officiating for us… it is what it is in this league. I’m not gonna comment on that.”

The loss drops UConn to 27-4 on the season, including a 17-3 record against the Big East. UConn’s loss also allows St. John’s (25-6, 18-2 Big East) to outright claim the 2026 Big East Conference regular season title. The Huskies will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big East Conference Tournament as a result.

On3’s Barkley Truax and Daniel Hager also contributed to this report.