UConn men’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley became the focal point of the college basketball this week when reports broke on Thursday morning that he is a serious candidate to be the next head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. But it might not be a seamless transition, should Hurley make the jump.
Discussing the news of the day with colleagues Rece Davis and Pete Thamel on the College GameDay podcast, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello explained that Hurley would need to reel himself in some coaching in the NBA. And there’s a chance the necessary overhaul doesn’t jive with Hurley.
“I think it’s going to be hard for him to completely change what he’s done for 50-something years,” Borzello said. “You know, part of his personality, part of his persona is what has made him successful as a college coach. And sitting in his practices at UConn, it’s different. It’s kind of anxiety-inducing, watching it. The profanities are flying, it’s really intense. NBA practices aren’t going to be like that. And I kind of question whether he’s going to be totally able to dial it back.
“He’s dialed it back during games and you seem him talking to his players during games, he’s rarely yelling and he’s told me he doesn’t want to put added pressure on his players, that’s why he doesn’t yell at them during games, he yells at referees. But you still don’t see a ton of NBA coaches yelling at referees, either. So he’s going to really have to dial it back pretty much that entire aggressive part of his personality to be successful in the NBA.”
Borzello did hedge that point, though, pointing out the ability to focus on just basketball in the NBA could appeal to Hurley.
With things like fundraising, managing NIL and recruiting off the table, Hurley would be free to focus on hoops.
“I do think he kind of sees himself as a basketball coach and in the NBA, that’s kind of what you are,” Borzello said. “You’re a basketball coach. In college, you’re everything else and a basketball coach. You have to recruit, you have to fundraise, boosters. There’s just so many different relationships you need to have in order to be successful at the college level. In the NBA, you’re given players, you’re told, ‘Hey go coach them to wins.’ And I think part of him will like that.”
And ultimately, reading the tea leaves on what Hurley might do isn’t easy.
UConn is poised to compete for a third-straight national championship, something Hurley wasn’t shy about after winning the second earlier this year. Walking away from that perch — when he’s already passed up other opportunities in college this offseason in Lexington, Kentucky, for instance — would be difficult.
However, jobs like the Lakers aren’t open often, and Borzello sees Hurley as someone with the ambition to take on the challenge of one of the highest-profile coaching jobs in the world.
“And he’s also said, after winning the first one [national championship], I think he told Seth Davis that it didn’t fulfill him the way he thought,” Borzello said. “So he could be looking for something else. He turned down Kentucky. That’s the biggest job in college basketball. There’s no where else he can really go in college basketball. So logically, the only other option would be the NBA. The timing is interesting just because, again, three in a row would cement his place in the history of the sport. But the Lakers job is unique and it doesn’t come around very often.”
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