It’s a loss for college basketball.
Woj: Lakers targeting Danny Hurley for HC
- Thread starter MooneyHall07
- Start date
It’s amazing how many geniuses on this board said Danny couldn’t coach worth a hoot. Now look at his situation.
let me watch Seton Hall win 2 national titles and I’ll sign on to worry 100 times more than they are.
True, but could you imagine Sr. being a sit-along-side assistant (probably not even the no. 1 assistant) at Xavier 30 years ago? Not sure how much more money it would have paid, then, vs. his job at St. A's, perks, and his day job.
Fair point.....what is more amazing is less than 15 months ago, Danny was 0-2 in the NCAA tournament at UCONN, and had a lot of pressure going into the '23 tournament. And now he has won back to back National Championships (in ridiculously easy manner), and is going to be the Laker's coach.
Agree with everything but the last sentence. Big East basketball is on the upswing. It would definitely hurt to lose Hurley, especially at Connecticut, but no one person makes or breaks the league.
Well, we lost Wright and since then won 2 national championships, so yeah. But losing Hurley would be a big loss for the conference.
I generally don’t like commenting on threads like this - simply because no one knows what DH will decide.
However, I do (sort of) know his family as they lived in my town, our kids went to school together. It’s always been known that his wife wanted to stay on the East Coast and/or in NJ as she grew up in my town. I don’t know if that has changed much - UConn / CT isn’t far from where we are and if they want to come to NJ for whatever reason, it’s easy enough.
That’s not the case with Los Angeles. I could see if DH wasn’t making much, but his contract is 6 years, $32M? What more does he need? Going to Lakers is that much better?
I doubt it and my gut tells me he won’t go. I could be 100% wrong but I don’t see what he gains from this other than to say he coached in the NBA, which as far as I’m concerned isn’t all that great. Heck I’d be speaking to PJ and Adrian Griffin to get perspective, as quick as you’re up, you’re yesterday’s news.
Either way, I wish him luck.
However, I do (sort of) know his family as they lived in my town, our kids went to school together. It’s always been known that his wife wanted to stay on the East Coast and/or in NJ as she grew up in my town. I don’t know if that has changed much - UConn / CT isn’t far from where we are and if they want to come to NJ for whatever reason, it’s easy enough.
That’s not the case with Los Angeles. I could see if DH wasn’t making much, but his contract is 6 years, $32M? What more does he need? Going to Lakers is that much better?
I doubt it and my gut tells me he won’t go. I could be 100% wrong but I don’t see what he gains from this other than to say he coached in the NBA, which as far as I’m concerned isn’t all that great. Heck I’d be speaking to PJ and Adrian Griffin to get perspective, as quick as you’re up, you’re yesterday’s news.
Either way, I wish him luck.
I agree with you that one person does not make or breaks the league. But you have to take this in the context of the times with what we are living with. College basketball is over. It is a semi-pro league. Not only is there NIL money, now schools can pay players in the Power 5 conferences. How many Big East schools can compete with that? The Big East is the best college basketball conference. But this is no longer college basketball.
This is one of the first dominoes that fall for the destruction of this league. This is the major reason that Hurley will leave.
There are reports he is going to get offered fifteen million a year. He could probably leverage more.
6/32 versus 6/90. Its a huge difference. Sometimes people leave coaching jobs for 1 million more- this is a gigantic difference and I don't know anybody on the planet who is turning down an extra 60 million dollars.
But at what point do you have enough money? Money does make life easier in some respects but you can’t live long enough to spend that kind of money and then there is the saying…more money, more problems. At some point happiness has to figure into things.
Good problem to have though, I guess.
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His Dad never ran for the money. Bob Sr. looms very large in Danny's life and Danny has lots of money already and does like being close to home.
The current college landscape could also be a big factor in his decision. Does he want to just coach (which the NBA opportunity offers him) and make a lot of $ or continue to deal with NIL and the Portal etc plus coaching? Good news for UConn is they have tons of resources so I'm sure he feels supported there. I think it's 50/50. There I took a stand - lol.
The current college landscape could also be a big factor in his decision. Does he want to just coach (which the NBA opportunity offers him) and make a lot of $ or continue to deal with NIL and the Portal etc plus coaching? Good news for UConn is they have tons of resources so I'm sure he feels supported there. I think it's 50/50. There I took a stand - lol.
Maybe the bump in $$$ he will get from Uconn in a renegotiation will be enough to keep him there???
Obviously will still be way less than the Laker offer. Hope for the Big East he stays.
Obviously will still be way less than the Laker offer. Hope for the Big East he stays.
Whatever he does, someone on this board will figure out one more time, Danny Hurley doesn't know what he's doing and tell us about it. That is the one sure thing.
I think he's gone, though people with more information than may say that it is still up in the air. I'm hearing the number $100 million of guaranteed money being thrown around a lot. it has to be extraordinarily hard to walk away from that, especially for a guy like Dan who grew up in a household with both parents working and not having a ton of cash. I'm not saying the Hurley household was poor, or anything, but like a lot of people, Dan witnessed his parents working hard to make ends meet.
More importantly than that, however, is the notion that Dan is always looking to prove himself. The top of his profession is coaching in the NBA. And coaching LA in the NBA is one of the top jobs there. It's always been a goal of his to test himself at that level. I actually think that is going to be the driving factor, even more so than the money.
For what it's worth Connecticut is willing to go to $10 million a year for him, versus probably 17 to 19,000,000 a year at LA. So even though we would make him the highest paid coach in college basketball, by a significant margin, LA is going to practically double that that. It's not a small difference. I agree with idea that either dollar amount is going to make Dan comfortable for the rest of his life, and, set up a legacy for his kids. But, I don't think that's the issue so much as the fact that the value of the contract is a concrete validation of him as a professional.
I would be very happy to be wrong on that, because, if he stays I actually feel like we have a decent shot at winning back to back to back national championships, but I don't think I am. I don't begrudge Dan leaving in the least. He's given absolutely everything he has to this job and has succeeded at the highest level. If he decides to move on I will wish him nothing but the best.
I make it a point to not count other people’s money. That said, I have to think the other part of your post is more the driving factor. Many of the great ones feel compelled to continually challenge themselves, a la Pitino leaving Kentucky when he built them back from probation to the absolute top of the college hoops landscape, and then taking the Celtics job. From afar, I think this is similar if he goes.
Many of the same geniuses had Sha taking us to a Final 4 when he got the job. Root for the broken clocks to be right twice a day.
Rumor has it that Luke wants the head coaching job and if it goes to Kamani, which I think it will, he'll go with Hurley to LA.
The question for me would be do you want to make 5 mill or so a year to play 30-32 games and all the travel and work for that or is it physically and mentally better to make 15 million a year for working 82 plus games with all the work and travel that goes into that? The NBA is much more demanding on the family and marriage.
To me on a per game basis the money is not much better and it is better to stay at UConn and be close to family and the college game.
To me on a per game basis the money is not much better and it is better to stay at UConn and be close to family and the college game.
Both jobs are full-time year-round. You can make the argument that there is more work to do in the off-season for a college coach than a pro coach.
As a pro coach, you only have to deal with the players and a game plan. The travel and the lifestyle even though longer during the season is so much better. add to that, college basketball is in such a bad place and a cesspool right now. Who knows what the next five years will bring?
With that kind of money he can do so much for his family and his extended family and maybe has some aspirations to give back to the community. With that kind of money, think what he can do for St. Anthony’s.
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Rut Roh, Fanta mentions Holloway as a possible candidate to replace Hurley.
www.foxsports.com
Where does UConn turn if Dan Hurley takes Lakers head coaching job? | FOX Sports
Dan Hurley is in deep discussions with the Lakers, which brings up the question: Where would UConn turn for its next head coach? John Fanta explains why staying in the family feels likely.
www.foxsports.com
Sounds like he is letting the process play out , which most people would do. He isnt' Jay Wright where he told his agent to say no to anyoen who calls.
I am 50/50 on this. Yes it is an amazing job , but will he have control to coach and build the way he wants too? Sometimes the biggest paying jobs give you less control.
I am 50/50 on this. Yes it is an amazing job , but will he have control to coach and build the way he wants too? Sometimes the biggest paying jobs give you less control.
I think you are underestimating how much his wife plays a role in this. It’s already been said that she does NOT want to go.
I don’t have any inside info - but I knew from when they lived in my town she was not interested in even leaving NJ. CT isn’t so bad, California is a different beast. Pitino basically confirmed this…
Not everybody is a money grubber. For Hurley, it has never been about money.
12.5 mil a year vs 5- 6 mil a year isn't money grubbing. It's common sense.
No but it is about opportunity. He basically has been open about his desire to someday go to the NBA. Let's say that he goes next year, the Lakers job won't be open. The Knicks job? Thibs is over 65, but there's no guarantee. Spurs with Wemby? Milwaukee with Giannis? Maybe one or all of them are open in the next 2-3 years, but are they better than coaching the A-1 pro basketball team in the world, with the no. 1 player of his generation on the roster?
The Lakers job won’t be open next year, but it will again in two or three years like it always is. That’s the thing here — this isn’t a now-or- never proposition for Danny. These chances will keep opening up to him if he stays.
Potentially. But he is “white hot” right now.
He has a few years that are not as good, perception changes.
Article in CT Post this morning has Bruce Pearl and Shaka Smart also in the mix for after-Danny UCONN. (I don't see either.)
And Magic Johnson is in the Danny camp. Seems as if no one is excited about JJ Reddick exchanging microphone for the sidelines.
And Magic Johnson is in the Danny camp. Seems as if no one is excited about JJ Reddick exchanging microphone for the sidelines.
It’s actually the reasons you state here that I think Danny stays.
I think he’s basking in this deserved attention and consideration. I think he’s handling it really well rooted in the upbringing from a probation officer dad and mom.
I’m just guessing, but I believe all this talk now makes him forever a candidate for the NBA and he can always use that leverage.
All because he’s taking his time to mull over this offer.
But that’s just my 2 cents
When I was in my 20’s I was firmly of the opinion I was a Jersey guy forever. Then I was offered a job in Florida with one of the world’s greatest corporations. After agonizing over it with my wife I decided to take it. Turned out to be the best decision I ever made. Point being, circumstances can result in a previously unconsidered major life change.
You think it was the best decision you ever made but you really don't know that if you turned down the Florida job how your life would have been. It might have been just as good or better.
I made a lot of choices that turned out good but now I can see that if I made other choices things might have been good too. A lot has to do with what you as a person do with the circumstances you are in. Same goes for hoops players. Samuel left the hall for greener pastures but in the end if he stayed he would have done alright and been on and NIT champion team and maybe a team that made the NCAAs and did some damage there.
I made a lot of choices that turned out good but now I can see that if I made other choices things might have been good too. A lot has to do with what you as a person do with the circumstances you are in. Same goes for hoops players. Samuel left the hall for greener pastures but in the end if he stayed he would have done alright and been on and NIT champion team and maybe a team that made the NCAAs and did some damage there.
For what it's worth, the Twitter-verse and some semi connected guys are now saying that the tea leaves suggest that he is staying. Apparently the LA offer was $100 million over eight years. A great number, to be sure, but lowered than what was initially rumored.
The buzz is now that he will wait for the Knicks or the Nets to open up.
His family likes this area and being close to the extended family. If you are his wife, you don't see him much no matter where he coaches because he is so busy whether he coaches the Lakers or UConn. The family support system is more important for her than Danny. Ultimately its a family decision and I bet the family would prefer to stay close and Danny will still make a lot of $ either way.
