STORRS — Tom Thibodeau came by for a visit, as did Joe Mazzulla. Any given day this summer, one could find coaches and executives from the NBA, overseas basketball clubs as well as smaller colleges and high schools at UConn’s Werth Center.
This is not a new phenomenon, but curiosity with how coach Dan Hurley runs his men’s basketball organization at UConn appears to be growing, expanding.
Operative word there is “organization.”
“It’s cool, it’s super cool,” senior Alex Karaban said. “I mean, seeing NBA coaches walk in trying to learn from the offense and defense we use at UConn and try to bring stuff to the highest level. Knowing we’re doing stuff that can translate to the highest level, it’s awesome. Seeing how hard we compete every day, it’s a known thing across the country and people want to see that.”
Dom Amore: One goal shy of Frozen Four, UConn men’s hockey is back and hungry for more
Thibodeau, from New Britain, let go by the Knicks after the best season the franchise has had in 25 years, has long been respected as a basketball mind. Early in his career, he was known to watch and take notes at Jim Calhoun’s practices. Mazzulla, who won a championship with the Celtics in 2024, has been known to observe both Hurley and Geno Auriemma in action.
“To hang out with Thibs for a couple of days was a highlight for me,” Hurley said. “I love Thibs. Connecticut guy. And his mom is a crazy UConn fan, throwing stuff at the TV. My kindred spirit, Joe Mazzulla, was here, spent some time with Joe. We’ve had international people through here. This time of year, we get more NBA people. We get high school coaches here, Division II, Division III.”
It lines up with a vision Hurley laid out about a year ago, odd sounding at the time. He wanted UConn, he said, to be known as “one of the best basketball organizations in the world,“ rather than just one of the best programs in U.S. college basketball. With the advent of player-remuneration, expanding rosters, and all the rest, he envisioned a system of on-court success and player-development at multiple levels, like an academy, rather than the yearly quick-fix approach that has become more typical in the age of NIL and drop-of-a-hat transfers.
UConn now has 15 players on scholarship, including a few who understand they are here in 2025-26 with an eye toward the future. When Hurley arrived at UConn in 2018, his plan to rejuvenate the program focused on recruiting from East Coast areas where he and his staff had contacts: New England, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and D.C.
His current roster, which began its season-prep practice schedule Tuesday, includes two players born in Germany, one from Tasmania, another from Turkey, one from Serbia, as well as the traditional U.S. hotbeds like Indiana and the Washington-to-Boston corridor.
“The international players can help us out,” Karaban said. “They play differently, the actions they use, the way they move the ball.”
Calhoun first thrust UConn into the international recruiting scene with Nadav Henefeld and Doron Sheffer from Israel during the late 1980s and early ’90s. Auriemma has also recruited extensively overseas with notable successes. Hurley’s staff includes a GM role, now filled by long-time assistant coach Tom Moore, who helps identify talent and fit players under what has become, in effect, a salary cap.
“In today’s game, you’ve got an NIL budget and you’re looking for value,” Hurley said. “Maybe an American player priced themselves out. We’re looking for players who want to be coached. The advantage with some of the international kids, they’re getting coached harder overseas when they’re younger, the coaches aren’t afraid the kids are going to change high schools or AAU teams. I just think there is this culture over there where they can acclimate to hard practices and demanding coaches and the kind of structure we put around them.”
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: How Robert Redford ‘wound up’ in CT; young golf stars, Silver’s folly, more
The structure, as Hurley and his coaches have explained in the past, includes a concerted effort to expand attention spans, or at least dispel the perception that young people have short attention spans, with an expansive playbook and extensive film study.
And, of course, there are the practices. Solo Ball, who was at the Chris Paul Elite Guard Camp over the summer, fielded some questions.
“The biggest question I’m asked,” Ball said, “is how hard we practice, and people don’t realize how hard we practice. It’s different at every single school you go to, but here, it’s a one-of-a-kind place.”
This, not to mention Hurley’s volatile personality, would be a radical departure for coaching in the NBA, yet after the Huskies won back-to-back championships in 2023 and ’24, Hurley was pursued, maybe you’ve heard, by the Lakers. The fascination with him shows no sign of fading. Though he felt drained after last season and entertained thoughts of taking a “gap year,” as he detailed in his soon-to-be-released book, “Never Stop,” Hurley, one year into a six-year, $50 million contract, decided he could not leave behind what he’s built in Storrs. The “pursuit will be different” this year, he says, now that the self-applied pressure of “three-peating” is lifted.
“It is the best basketball organization,” Karaban said, “in how connected we are off the court, on the court, how hard we play every single day, how much we care about this jersey. We have everything in this facility we need, we’ve got the best fans, it really is the best.”
As UConn coach congratulates retiring legend, Dan Hurley discloses why he’s back with Huskies
Karaban, veteran of the championships, back for a fourth year, is joined by the trio of juniors, Ball, Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross, working for their major breakouts, as is center Tarris Reed Jr. They have another potential one-and-done freshman in Braylon Mullins, experienced transfers to fill specific needs, like guards Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith, with the other freshmen, transfers and international players working behind the scenes.
“The 15-player thing, you’re experimenting,” Hurley said. “The trade-off there is you’ve got a chance to develop players, a chance to practice hard, and keep some of your veterans fresher but let the young players get the reps they need. You’re able to be more ala cart with practice. The only thing we’ll find out is if having 15 people is too many pains in the butt to deal with.”
The global brand Hurley imagines starts with winning — UConn men and women have combined for 18 championships — but doesn’t end there, as former Huskies swell rosters in the NBA, WNBA and, increasingly, the Hall of Fame.
“We obviously have the evidence with the championship success,” Hurley said. “We’ve got the evidence with the people we’re producing, not just in the NBA. When you look across the board at the guys the last several years, they’re all flourishing overseas, the NBA, in some cases in the G League. Whether you’re an NBA or international team, (you will get from UConn) somebody that has been in a demanding program, is somebody that’s going to be able function really well in structure, in a system that prioritizes discipline.
“Being about the right things, competitive, coachable. Coaches can coach our players hard when they leave here. One of the biggest complaints I get from our players when they leave here, they wish their teams coached them harder, practiced them harder. It’s about winning, playing for the front of the jersey.”
Originally Published: September 24, 2025 at 12:32 PM EDT
