Dan Hurley Rejects Lakers to Stay with UConn Hoops

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00:00Now this is a treat. If we sleep in May, do we go over potential June head coaching vacancies

00:10in this month? Because this is June live right here on this Wednesday with John Rosti joining

00:17us once again on behalf of FanDuel live right here on the early line. And of course, John,

00:23we have to look back on the week that was in the carousel in Connecticut around Dan Hurley,

00:29who stays in stores. What it means for you, Con, and Dan Hurley's legacy moving forward.

00:35We do all that here in June, but first we say welcome back to the early line. We're glad to

00:40have you. Great to be with you, Ben. Always great to be talking College Hoops with you and your

00:45esteemed crew. And that is what happens here in the month of June. So let's go through the Dan

00:51Hurley timeline, because John, it really came out of left field a week ago, Thursday morning,

00:57ahead of game one of the 2024 NBA finals. ESPN's Adrian Roginowski reported the Lakers were

01:03targeting Dan Hurley as their next head coach. Dan Hurley goes to Los Angeles to meet with the

01:10Lakers the following day, and then over the weekend, molds his decision. And then a couple

01:16of days ago on Tuesday, or on, excuse me, Monday afternoon, we got that final determination that

01:24Dan Hurley was not going to go to Los Angeles, rejecting the Lakers' offer and would remain as

01:30UConn's head coach. Let's start with the timeline here, John. Do you believe in everything that you

01:35have heard around this situation, Dan Hurley was seriously considering the Lakers' position?

01:42He wouldn't have went to Los Angeles if he wasn't considering the Lakers' position. And as you know,

01:47and it's been well documented, Dan Hurley met in person with the Lakers late last week and then

01:53returned to the East Coast. But there's a lot of reasons why Dan Hurley opted to remain at the

01:58University of Connecticut. A big one is the geographic portion of this. In my opinion,

02:03if the Knicks or the Celtics courted Dan Hurley to be its next head basketball coach,

02:10I think the result of this could have been different. But ultimately, the chance to go back

02:15to Connecticut, a place that Dan Hurley has reinvigorated under his watch and brought the

02:21Huskies back to a level that we saw under Jim Calhoun, that decision obviously usurped the

02:27ability to go cross country and be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. John, if we're taking a

02:33look at maybe that step from college into the pros, was this something that maybe the Hurley

02:37camp was putting out for feelers in the NBA or just really caught him off guard and intrigued

02:42him when the Lakers made that first phone call? Dan Hurley has been open about his desire to coach

02:47the NBA, although with conversations that I've had with Dan Hurley, even some in the last couple

02:52of days after he made his decision, he initially thought that was going to be down the road. And

02:58again, I stand by what I said. If this was the Knicks, if this was the Celtics, if this was in

03:03a different geographic region, I think the result of this could have been different. But there's

03:08also the allure of chasing history next season at Connecticut. And there's also something that

03:14we have to keep in mind, guys. And this is something that isn't as pronounced in this

03:18transfer portal era. Dan Hurley is a very loyal person, especially when it comes to his players.

03:24And there are several players at UConn that he has coached now for multiple seasons that have

03:29been a part of teams that have won back-to-back national championships. Asan Diara, Alex Caravan,

03:35Samson Johnson. He knows he owes it to those players who committed to him to see this thing

03:41through, especially when this courtship started in early June. So John, the best coach currently

03:47in college basketball remains in college basketball for UConn, for the sport as a whole.

03:54What does it mean that Dan Hurley is staying in stores? It's tremendous. And it's a major

04:00storyline now, obviously going into next season that UConn, again, a team that lost several key

04:07ingredients again from a team that was dominant in its run to a national championship, will be

04:12going for a three-peat in 24-25. You know, Ben, I understand fully what's going on off the field,

04:20off the court in college athletics, and I know how volatile it is. But you look right now here

04:25on June 12th about what lies ahead next season. UConn is going for a three-peat in men's basketball.

04:32We also have Alabama bringing back Mark Sears, adding Cliff Omori, trying to go back to the

04:38Final Four for the second consecutive year under Nate Oates. You also have to look at Duke bringing

04:43in a generational talent potentially in freshman forward Cooper Flagg. And on top of that, we have

04:49teams of high ilk in different conferences. UCLA, Oregon, USC, and Washington are going to the Big Ten.

04:57The Big 12 could potentially have five teams in the preseason top ten. Kansas, Houston, Iowa State,

05:06Baylor, and Arizona. I know how volatile things are off the court and off the field in college sports,

05:12but the on-court product in college basketball is extremely, extremely healthy.

05:17It's going to be fun to watch UConn next year, and the reason I bring that up is Dan Hurley,

05:20six seasons, 141 wins at UConn, back-to-back national championships, going for a third. We

05:25know he is very loyal to that university. Did any of those conversations or talks come

05:29up between you and him where it's like, you know what, if I did go to the Lakers,

05:33that 30-day portal opens up, and who knows what sort of team that we would be fielding at UConn

05:38for the upcoming season? Now, crisis averted at that point, but that had to be a big thing that

05:42was sort of drawing him back to UConn. It was definitely part of it, Donnie, but also we have

05:47to look at this too. When a college coach is going to entertain an NBA opportunity,

05:52if you're in an opportunity like Dan Hurley, where you have won and rebuilt UConn's program,

05:59again, to the level that it was under Jim Calhoun, you want to take an opportunity in the NBA if

06:06you're going to exercise that, you know, demon. Demon might be the wrong word, but if you want

06:11to exercise that right to go coach in the NBA, I think you want to go into a situation where you

06:17know you're going to win and have success. I am not one of these people who covers college

06:21basketball all year long and then jumps in the next like I have a working knowledge of every

06:25NBA roster, but from the people I've talked to, you know, in the NBA over the last week,

06:31they've told me that the Lakers are not exactly a ready-made championship team with obviously the

06:35history, you know, of LeBron James potentially maybe, you know, retiring near the age of 40.

06:40I think that's something to really keep in mind right now. If a college coach is going to leave

06:45a tailor-made situation for success and go to the NBA, he's got to be in a situation where

06:50obviously he's set up to win. Yeah, John, some of the reporting around the Lakers situation and

06:55their ownership group, there is the prestige of Los Angeles. There is the luster of this

07:01Lakers organization based on its history, but current day, maybe not as attractive

07:07as a head coaching position as some maybe originally thought. So let's focus on the

07:13college basketball perspective of this all. Connecticut trying to win a third consecutive

07:18national championship will enter next year as of this moment as a co-favorite to cut down the nets

07:25in early April. Once again, a 10-to-1 price for UConn alongside the Kansas Jayhawks. It is a

07:32tournament known as Madness that ends with a crowning of a national champion. So John, is it

07:38realistic to expect the Connecticut Huskies to contend for a third straight title? I think UConn's

07:46preseason ranking this year after losing four starters, Newton, Spencer, Steph Castle, Donovan

07:54Klingon from last year's team that won 37-3 is based more on what this program has done in the

07:59last two seasons than what the team looks like entering next year. But I will say this, you look

08:04at those in Greece right now in Storrs, Connecticut, and you're thinking about the meal that could be

08:10sampled. You say, what? I don't know if the sauce is going to taste as good as it's been the last

08:14couple of years. But then you remember who the chef is and the chef is Dan Hurley. And remember

08:20this, UConn does not have to be as dominant as it was in each of the past two seasons to win a

08:27national championship because UConn in the last two seasons under Dan Hurley won 12 NCAA tournament

08:34games by an average of 21.7 points per game. I'm not saying that UConn is one of the best

08:45teams, again, of all time. But I'll say this, you have to put them in the conversation among the best

08:51teams of all time when you look at different eras and so on and so forth because of how dominant

08:57this team was. It's definitely one of the best teams of the modern era in college basketball.

09:03And again, I think you have to put it in the conversation. It's one of the best teams of all

09:07time considering what this program has done under Dan Hurley in the past two years.

09:12Listen, this was a treat. This is June with Jon Rothstein live right here on The Early Line.

09:18Jon, we appreciate the time as always.

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