It’s been just over three months since Dan Hurley thrilled UConn fans with the news that he’d be staying with the Huskies, and turning down a reported six-year, $70 million contract offer to coach the Los Angeles Lakers.
Hurley cited family, the chance to build on something special at UConn, and the desire to remain a college coach as reasons for staying in Storrs. But he seemed to leave open the possibility of coaching in the NBA in the not-too-distant future.
The 51-year-old has also said that he doesn’t want to coach into his 60s, and rumblings about his potential interest in a future Knicks opening have circulated.
In an appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” though, Hurley cast doubt in that idea.
Asked if he would still want to coach in the NBA one day, Hurley responded:
“I don’t know, I don’t know about that … If you’re not gonna take the Lakers’ job, then what job are you gonna take?”
“As I understand it, you’ve also said recently, you could never be an NBA coach because they don’t do (expletive),” Bensinger said.
Hurley burst into laughter.
“Who did I say that to?” he said.
Hurley elaborated: “I love being a part of this transformation for the last point in a young man’s life where you can really have a big impact on how their life is going to play out. That to me was what I realized I love about being a college coach that you don’t get to do being an NBA coach because that’s not the relationship there.”
Bensinger also spoke with Andrea Hurley, and the two went into greater detail about his decision, plus discussed the coach’s mental health, including an episode where he says he had a breakdown at a CVS.
“It scared the (expletive) out of me and it rocked me to my core and, and you couldn’t convince me otherwise, like, what was I going to go to work for? There’s something wrong with me… I couldn’t function. The wheels came off mentally. I couldn’t move,” Hurley said. “I thought I was done, and I didn’t care.”
The full interview with Hurley will make its television debut on various networks this weekend. Clips are also available on Bensinger’s YouTube channel.