Dan Hurley reveals how he almost left UConn this offseason
UConn Basketball Head Coach Dan Hurley made headlines this Wednesday, as the two-time national championship-winning coach contemplated stepping away from his post at Storrs.
The news, first reported by The Athletic, came from the highly anticipated novel: “Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes To Be Great,” co-written by Hurley and Ian O’Connor. “I thought about leaving,” Hurley wrote. “Taking a gap year. Resigning as head coach of the UConn Huskies.”
Similar to many college coaches, not just in basketball, Hurley also revealed how coaching in a new college atmosphere with NIL and the transfer portal impacted his health and willingness to coach in Connecticut.
“I knew my mind, and I knew my body, and I could feel that I was completely cooked,” Hurley writes. “Just burnt. I didn’t even know how I was standing. I stared at the office walls, muttering, conducting a brutal review of our season. I didn’t build a strong enough roster. I wasn’t a good leader. I let everyone down in Maui. I lost control, emotionally, at various points. I came in here some days sad and defeated, when I needed to be positive and inspiring. Then I went through the self-lacerating what-ifs: What if we’d played a little bit better in Maui? What if we hadn’t blown that game against Seton Hall? What if we’d been a better seed than an eight seed and hadn’t needed to face a number one in the second round? Who knows?”
The 2024-2025 campaign for the Huskies was an up-and-down roller coaster for UConn. With lows such as UConn nearly falling out of the AP Poll after the Maui Invitational, the program’s first real test, holes in the roster were exposed and Hurley’s emotions got the best of him. Hurley’s emotions, which got him into trouble at times, rewarded opponents with free throws.
A significant storyline for the Huskies a season ago came in their second-round matchup against the eventual national champion Florida Gators. After losing a heartbreaking 77-75 contest to the Gators, the former Seton Hall guard was recorded shouting, “I hope they don’t f*** you like they f***ed us” in the tunnel to players on the Baylor Bears. Afterwards, Hurley expressed remorse for how he handled the situation. In the novel, Hurley also writes about how he needed time away from basketball to recharge. Despite this, the head coach recognizes that NIL and the transfer portal make coaching in today’s game a much more demanding job than in years past.
“It was unhealthy to be ruminating this way. I was unhealthy. I desperately needed to get out of town, flee to my standard hideaway, Dorado Beach in San Juan. I needed to do some healing, not think about basketball for a few days. But that wasn’t possible in this new era. The transfer portal and NIL deals made every college player a free agent, so right after the tournament I needed to be in my office, in Storrs. If I left town right then, I wouldn’t have a team for the 2025-26 season,” adding, “At that point, I wasn’t even sure that I would return for the 2025-26 season.”
A coach leaving college sports due to the shifting landscape to pursue other endeavors is not as shocking as some may believe. Coaches like Tony Bennett or Jay Wright have walked away from their respective programs due to changes in the college game.
While the 52-year-old reportedly had talks of becoming a television analyst with Fox Sports, Hurley will return for at least one more season as UConn’s head coach, and he has an even better roster behind him this season, giving Connecticut a legitimate case as being one of the top programs in the country. With Alex Karaban and Solo Ball returning to the program, and transfer Silas Demary Jr., among others, suiting up for the Huskies this season, Connecticut has a real chance at championship No. 7.
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