Dan Hurley, arguably the most effective coach in school basketball, thought of stepping down from his job earlier this 12 months.
This based on a first-person account in his forthcoming e book, “By no means Cease: Life, Management, and What It Takes To Be Nice.”
True to the title, Hurley hasn’t stopped — however he virtually did within the spring. The information was first reported Wednesday by The Athletic. After ascending to the highest of school hoops by guiding UConn to back-to-back nationwide titles in 2023 and 2024, the pressures of attempting to win three straight — and failing to take action — led Hurley to briefly think about quitting the occupation. The pondering got here on the heels of a dramatic 2024-25 season that was incessantly accompanied by detrimental headlines.
“I considered leaving,” Hurley writes within the e book, due out Sept. 30. “Taking a spot 12 months. Resigning as head coach of the UConn Huskies.”
CBS Sports activities reached out to Hurley, who was not instantly accessible for touch upon Wednesday.
The Huskies ’24-25 season began infamously with an 0-3 disaster on the Maui Invitational after debuting as a preseason top-five workforce. CBS Sports activities was given unique entry to the Huskies amid that event flameout, which included Hurley’s first infamous encounter with officers final season.
UConn rebounded from that Maui droop by consecutively beating Baylor, Texas, Gonzaga and Xavier — all eventual NCAA tourney groups — in December and reaching 12-3. However UConn went went 6-6 via a seven-week stretch of Massive East and finally landed an 8-seed within the NCAAs. The Huskies completed 24-11 after almost upsetting eventual nationwide champ Florida within the second spherical. That loss gave approach for another Hurley misstep, when he was caught on digicam leaving the courtroom saying to a Baylor workforce that was ready to play within the subsequent sport, “I hope they do not f— you want they f—– us.”
The 52-year-old Hurley has largely since atoned for all of that, publicly and privately. He spoke informally for almost an hour with CBS Sports activities earlier this summer time, whereas on the highway recruiting, and recounted the highs and lows of final season. Greater than three months faraway from the top of the season, Hurley mentioned he was in a a lot better headspace, discovered time to recharge and renew his function. He is excited and optimistic about his roster for 2025-26. That is now.
However right here was his mindset at one level early within the spring. An excerpt from the e book, by way of The Athletic:
“I knew my thoughts, and I knew my physique, and I may really feel that I used to be utterly cooked,” Hurley writes. “Simply burnt. I did not even understand how I used to be standing. I stared on the workplace partitions, muttering, conducting a brutal evaluate of our season. I did not construct a robust sufficient roster. I wasn’t a superb chief. I let everybody down in Maui. I misplaced management, emotionally, at numerous factors. I got here in right here some days unhappy and defeated, after I wanted to be constructive and galvanizing. Then I went via the self-lacerating what-ifs: What if we would performed a bit of bit higher in Maui? What if we hadn’t blown that sport towards Seton Corridor? What if we would been a greater seed than an eight seed and hadn’t wanted to face a primary within the second spherical? Who is aware of?
“It was unhealthy to be ruminating this manner. I used to be unhealthy. I desperately wanted to get out of city, flee to my commonplace hideaway, Dorado Seashore in San Juan. I wanted to do some therapeutic, not take into consideration basketball for a couple of days. However that wasn’t attainable on this new period. The switch portal and NIL offers made each school participant a free agent, so proper after the event I wanted to be in my workplace, in Storrs. If I left city proper then, I would not have a workforce for the 2025-26 season.
“At that time, I wasn’t even certain that I’d return for the 2025-26 season.”
Hurley’s former teaching agent, Jordan Bazant, has been a high-ranking TV govt with Fox Sports activities for years, and per the e book, the 2 engaged in a dialog “about doing a little commentary.” In the end, Hurley moved off the thought and purchased in once more with UConn. By revealing this, nevertheless, Hurley makes clear that for 2 consecutive offseasons he did have ideas about leaving UConn. In 2024, he famously turned down overtures to educate the Los Angeles Lakers.
His second of pause is hardly surprising. Faculty basketball has seen the likes of Jay Wright, Tony Bennett, Roy Williams and others — together with Nick Saban in school soccer, most notably — depart on an accelerated timeline as a result of large adjustments within the sport and the tumult that has include switch portal freedom and NIL empowerment for gamers.
Hurley’s predicament is like many different coaches in school sports activities. However a minimum of for now, he appears reinvigorated and able to attempt to get UConn again to the highest of the game. After some spectacular portal pickups, the return of ahead Alex Karaban and guard Solo Ball, plus the addition of the No. 11 freshman class in 2025, Hurley’s Huskies are poised to be ranked within the prime 10 this preseason and may vie with St. John’s for Massive East supremacy.