Dan Hurley contemplated leaving UConn for the NBA after the Huskies won back-to-back national championships two years ago, and the coach says he considered an exit again at the conclusion of last season.
Hurley’s new book “Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes To Be Great,” which he co-authored with Ian O’Connor of The Athletic, is set to be published on Sept. 30. In it, Hurley admits that he came close to stepping down as the head coach at UConn following the 2024-25 season.
Hurley said he thought about “taking a gap year” and resigning because of the emotional toll the season took on him. The 52-year-old found himself second-guessing everything and questioning whether he put the Huskies in the best position to become the only team other than UCLA to win three consecutive national titles.
“I knew my mind, and I knew my body, and I could feel that I was completely cooked,” Hurley wrote, via Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. “Just burnt. I didn’t even know how I was standing. I stared at the office walls, muttering, conducting a brutal review of our season. I didn’t build a strong enough roster. I wasn’t a good leader.”
Hurley went on to say that he “let everyone down” during the Maui Invitation at the start of the season and lost control of his emotions on too many occasions. He was referencing when he cost UConn a win last November by exploding on the officials and being called for a technical foul.
“It was unhealthy to be ruminating this way. I was unhealthy,” Hurley wrote. “I desperately needed to get out of town, flee to my standard hideaway, Dorado Beach in San Juan. I needed to do some healing, not think about basketball for a few days. But that wasn’t possible in this new era. The transfer portal and NIL deals made every college player a free agent, so right after the tournament I needed to be in my office, in Storrs. If I left town right then, I wouldn’t have a team for the 2025-26 season.
“At that point, I wasn’t even sure that I would return for the 2025-26 season.”
Hurley said he even had discussions with Fox Sports about potentially becoming an analyst. He spoke with former Villanova coach Jay Wright, who up until recently had been working for CBS since he retired from coaching. Wright told Hurley that Wright was actually happy rather than being “sick to his stomach nine months of the year.”
Ultimately, Hurley decided that he cherishes his job too much to leave. He said some of his infamous profane moments that have been captured just show that he is a human and not “some unbreakable machine programmed to seek and destroy opposing teams and officiating crews.”
Hurley was offered a contract to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers prior to last season. He turned it down and signed a new deal with UConn, though he said the decision was genuinely gut-wrenching.
The emotions that Hurley has experienced in recent years are normal for any coach of an elite program. He simply wears them on his sleeve, which has become both a blessing and a curse for him.
