Hurley Declines Lakers Offer, Staying with UConn

Hollywood is not for everyone. Hurley is staying on the East Coast.

Dan Hurley has made his decision and said thanks but no thanks to the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley turned down the Lakers’ offer to be their next head coach and will stay on as coach at the University of Connecticut, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported Monday afternoon. Hurley, who has captured back-to-back national championships at UConn and has a great chance of winning his third, that would put him in a class with UCLA’s John Wooden, turned down a six-year, $70 million offer from one of the NBA’s flagship franchises, according ESPN.

With Hurley no longer a possibility to fill their vacant coaching spot, the Lakers will most likely turn their attention back toward the two coaches that have thus far featured most prominently in their search: ESPN broadcaster JJ Redick and New Orleans Pelicans assistant James Borrego. Prior to the reporting on Hurley, Redick had reportedly been the frontrunner for the Lakers job and picking a staff, with the team viewing him as a “Pat Riley-like coaching prospect.” He currently hosts a podcast with Lakers star LeBron James called Mind the Game.

As successful as Hurley has been at the college level, coaches making that drastic leap have generally struggled in the NBA. In the past three decades, eleven college coaches have made the jump from the NCAA to the NBA without prior NBA head-coaching experience, and those coaches have a combined record of 1,483-1,797, according to CBS Sports research.

While some coaches have experienced varying degrees of success, like Brad Stevens and Billy Donovan, the only coach to win a championship at both the NBA and collegiate level is Larry Brown, who won it all with Kansas in 1988, featuring Danny Manning and the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Even though Hurley will not be joining the Lakers at this time, it is not out of the question because he has in the past openly said that he would consider NBA opportunities “down the road.” In an April appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, he cited “burnout” as the thing that could pry him away from the college game. He added that the NBA would appeal to him “if I could grow up a little bit, mature a bit with emotions.” If Hurley is able to maintain this level of dominance at UConn, other job opportunities at the NBA level will surely come his way. But that will most likely be a family decision between he and his wife Andrea, who he calls his rock.

For what it is worth now, James appears to be a fan of Hurley. He posted on social media in April that Hurley is a “damn good” coach.

But after an all-out no holds barred courtship, he will not reportedly land with the purple and gold. The Lakers are looking for their seventh coach since Phil Jackson retired in 2011. In Hurley, they saw someone who could feasibly succeed Jackson and Riley as long-term staples atop their organization. They are still pounding the pavement for that kind of coach, but it will not be the one currently sitting atop the collegiate world.