Dan and Andrea Hurley: Why we turned down Lakers job

UConn men’s head basketball coach Dan Hurley and his wife, Andrea, share insights into their decision to turn down the head coaching job with the Los Angeles Lakers. He also discusses how his family and East Coast roots played a significant role in the decision-making process. We hear from assistant coaches and family members as they reveal candidly if they thought Hurley was going to take the Lakers job and move out West.
#interview #coaching #nba

0:00 - NBA aspirations?
1:13 - 'Rough' team meeting
1:58 - Los Angeles visit felt 'yucky,' yet 'right'
3:23 - Making a decision
4:30 - Public perception
5:10 - Text decision
6:16 - Informing the team
7:20 - NCAA jobs are more demanding

Episode debuted nationwide in 2024.

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[ball_ut]

the last minute of this video explains the biggest difference from college to the NBA ! great move coach 🔥

[michaelbuchta]

Love this guy so so much as our coach!!! An even better person!!!

[GrahamBensinger]

0:00 - NBA aspirations?
1:13 - 'Rough' team meeting
1:58 - Los Angeles visit felt 'yucky, ' yet 'right'
3:23 - Making a decision
4:30 - Public perception
5:10 - Text decision
6:16 - Informing the team
7:20 - NCAA jobs are more demanding

[AdioAsh]

Ive never seen a man in a more comfortable state of existence as Coach Hurley. Why would he ruin that peace for the drama of the nba on top of that the lakers who are top tier drama.

[abba]

What an absolute legend. Awesome interview, Graham. As usual.

[johannty]

Smart move to stay away from a messed up situation.

[Heraclitean]

It shouldn't have been that hard of a decision. Lakers HC is a powerless position. He avoided disaster.

[mrmartywaring]

He made a great decision by staying at UConn

[Flyerman]

Imagine Hurley dealing with bronny and lebron

[a-love-supremist]

he got a new contract out of uconn using the lakers as leverage. yes, the lakers offered $20m more for the same amount of years but he has lifetime job security at uconn where he will keep renewing and extending his contract at 50m+, eventually he'll sign a $100m deal. I'm a Lakers fan but it didn't make any sense to me why an east coast guy building a college dynasty, and whose father was a lifelong high school coach, would go to an aging Lakers team with LeBron's retirement imminent. Steve Kerr has been a championship winning coach but has also had the worst record in the league. NBA coaches, no matter how brilliant they are, are nothing without superstars. In college, Hurley is rotating the best players in the country year in year out.

[Thefastcount]

He has a point that an nba coach usually doesn’t run the show, especially older teams. Thibs and pop are the only coaches that come to mind that their teams run through their system. A college coach probably works better for a young nba team.

[donvirts]

He really understands the "stay in your lane" phrase.

[ezquiet]

Knicks, Nets, Sixers, Celtics, etc. If one of those north east NBA teams come calling, it’ll get interesting.

[angelmatos]

Mediocre ownership is a definite no. 😎

[glennprucinsky]

I love Dan’s passion for coaching and his ability to engage with his players. What concerns me is the potential for burnout because he’s so invested. In today’s landscape around college athletics, I personally don’t approve of how the law got involved with thinking college students should get paid. So does this mean that the NCAA can’t enforce how sports athletics should be conducted. Should students pay for costs associated with the complete operating expenses involved with putting their sporting activities on. Arenas, plane fares, maintenance, coaches salaries, equipment, uniforms, workers, school buildings, facilities, transportation, teachers salaries, university facilities, whatever costs come with running an educational program. I order to showcase sporting events at a university you need to include all of these expenses. Attorneys and State Attorneys never should have gotten involved in ruining college competition. This has put countless pressure on the people who were in this for the love of sports and young men and women. This will never work in the long run and cause many college institutions to cut athletics. I don’t know how long men like Dan can keep the fire within him without getting burnout.????

[MeWizeMagicDan]

Hurley reminds me of Larry Brown, he just loves teaching. Could be kids at a park. LB with the Pistons worked because of the situation and the players bought in, I don’t think today’s NBA could have that.

[javianjohnson]

It seems like UCONN is his "peace" whereas the NBA, especially the LAKERS of all team w/LeBron and AD, is a bunch of opportunities for drama and a pretty powerless position as a head coach

[RHCP]

If your happy where you are in life, why try something else. "Don't mess with happiness". $$ means nothing if you are happy.

[noneofyourbusiness]

Didn't wanna be lebrick assistant coach

[jro]

Who's here after the 3 straight losses?😂