Dan Hurley and Luke Murray were a perfect match for each other in running the UConn men’s basketball program along with associate head coach Kimani Young and general manager Tom Moore, as well as Mike Nardi, who joined the Huskies’ staff as an assistant ahead of last season.
But they all agreed it was time for Murray, 41, to move on and take the next step in his career.
Hurley wanted to attend his introductory press conference at Boston College, where he accepted his first head coaching job, but it was held in between UConn’s Elite Eight win over Duke and the Final Four. It wasn’t long after the Huskies’ third national championship appearance in four years that Murray got off and running in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
He hired a staff that includes former UConn graduate assistant and video coordinator Mathew Johnson, former Syracuse assistant Brenden Straughn and former Florida Gulf Coast associate head coach Kyle Griffin, along with chief of staff Tim O’Toole, the former Fairfield head coach who spent the last nine years as Pittsburgh’s top assistant.
Known to be a great recruiter during his time working for Hurley, Murray and his new staff made a splash on Thursday with four transfer portal commitments in one day. The Eagles landed Money Williams, a guard who averaged more than 20 points per game at Montana, Northeastern point guard JB Frankel, former Merrimack sharpshooter Ernest Shelton and Slovenian guard Zak Smrekar.
Things have been moving a bit slower at UConn, where Hurley has allowed players on his current roster to take their time in deciding whether they’ll return for 2026-27. The Huskies do have a solid core with point guard Silas Demary Jr. and wing Jayden Ross having announced they’ll be back to welcome incoming freshmen Colben Landrew and Junior County. Najai Hines, the former Seton Hall center, was the first recruit to commit out of the portal, but the Huskies have their eyes on a few more.
As for replacing Murray, Hurley hasn’t quite gotten there yet.
“I drag my feet on that because I’m just very careful about who I’m going to bring into the circle and I’m going to take my time on that. I don’t want to make a mistake there,” Hurley said. “Just like a player, it takes a certain type of coach to be able to work with us, work for me. Just the intensity and the demands of the job. I don’t want to bring somebody in here that can’t handle it. So I’ve got to take my time there.”
Hurley previously said that he isn’t necessarily seeking out a great recruiter, because that part of the job has become increasingly reliant on NIL money, but his focus is on veteran coaches who can make good decisions on the roster and help run the program.
Would a current head coach do?
“I mean, yeah, if they could work like an assistant,” Hurley said. “You’ve got to be relentless. You’ve got to be able to do it 11 months a year. You’ve got to be obsessed with it. You’ve got to take your job home with you. You’ve got to be thinking about it when you’re eating breakfast, you’ve got to be thinking about it when you’re in the shower, you’ve got to be thinking about it when you’re driving home. The reason why guys like Kimani (Young) and Luke have been so successful here is because they’re obsessed. And if you’re not going to reach that level of obsession with me, it’s going to go bad.”
