Dan Hurley still turned down the opportunity to move to the NBA, lead the Lakers and finally say goodbye to his collegiate legacy in the NCAA. Hurley is a 51-year-old professional who in 2018 led the University of Connecticut team in the NCAA, one of the most prestigious basketball universities in the United States. The Connecticut Huskies won March Madness in 2023 and 2024, and the coach, meanwhile, became the author of a unique achievement: becoming a two-time NCAA champion.
Previously, only Billy Donovan, now coach of the Chicago Bulls, achieved this at Florida (2006-2007) and Mike Krzyszewski at Duke (1991-1992). Who is Dan Hurley and why is he so valued in the NBA Championship and we already talked about this in detail? What led Hurley to abandon the idea of managing the Lakers, a club that is in the spotlight 24 hours a day, is in our material.
Who is Dan Hurley?
The student coach will lead the Lakers and LeBron to the title. What’s going on?
Prospects for making NCAA history
Dan Hurley, 2023/2024 season
Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
As mentioned above, Dan Hurley is only the third coach in NCAA history to win back-to-back March Madness titles. More precisely, since 1985, when significant changes occurred in the student university, including the expansion of the number of participants in the first division from 53 to 64. If we delve into history, then, for example, the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1964 to 1973 was champion 11 times, including seven titles in a row from 1967 to 1973.
In addition to Donovan, Krzyszewski and Hurley, repeat championship teams included Oklahoma A&M (1945-1946), the University of Kentucky (1948-1949), the University of San Francisco (1955-1956) and the University of Cincinnati ( 1961-1962). ). In other words, it is now very, very difficult to repeat what Donovan, Krzyszewski and Hurley managed to do. It’s even unusual. “His team returns to UConn looking to win its third consecutive championship. In the end it was as important a factor as any other,” said insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
Three championships in a row is something unique. In men’s basketball. This hasn’t happened in American college sports for over 50 years! “I am moved by the whole experience. I am extremely proud of the championship culture we have built in Connecticut. “We met as a team before our recent practice and are now focused on improving this summer and coming together as a team as we continue to compete for a championship,” Hurley said in a statement.
Financial component
Dan Hurley, 2023/2024 season
Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The best college coaches make a lot of money. If Dan Hurley had accepted the $70 million that Los Angeles offered him over six years, Dan would have been only one of the 6 highest-paid coaches in the NBA. In any case, the Lakers’ offer should not be seen as anything special or attractive to a coach of his caliber. It is difficult to attract a specialist who is already in an excellent position at the university with this amount.
Although it was previously reported that Lakers management was willing to offer $100 million, this is where the offer would seem very tempting. “Dan Hurley is always ambitious and looking at the NBA; He appreciated the opportunity to talk to the Lakers, receive an offer to work with the team and really talk to management about the vision of what that would look like. This was not an easy decision for him. They told me they saw it as a once-in-a-lifetime offer,” Wojnarowski concluded.
However, a source later reported that Hurley also has a contract extension offer in progress with Connecticut, which would make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the NCAA. According to other sources, they want to see Dan at Kentucky, where they offered him a salary of $11 million a year, which would make him the most expensive specialist among students. That’s $600,000 less than the amount the Lakers offered. From a financial point of view, Hurley lost nothing by rejecting the “lake men” and at the same time maintained comfortable conditions. And it is still unknown how the relationship with LeBron James would develop if he remains in Los Angeles. The forward did not officially reject the option to renew his contract and did not enter the free agent market.
Russians in the NCAA:
