Will UConn’s Dan Hurley pull up to the Los Angeles Lakers? 👀 | College GameDay Podcast

Will UConn’s Dan Hurley pull up to the Los Angeles Lakers? 👀 | College GameDay Podcast

[Music] the face of college basketball as it were might be changing and very soon this is what they call in the trade and emergency edition of the college game day podcast for Thursday June 6th ree Davis Pete thill and Jeff Bello which implies that we are talking college basketball and we are because Dan Hurley has apparently emerged as the front runner to fill the vacancy for the Los Angeles Lakers Lakers are said to be about to put on a full court press a story that was reported by our Adrian morowski has been expounded upon by our buddy Pete thill in terms of the decision that is looming for the two-time reigning National Champion and head coach of the Huskies so there are a lot of questions to get to Yukon is the Blue Blood of the sport They are Kings of the court at the moment uh no end in sight one would think because Hurley has now that pedigree and the ability to uh mine the transfer portal to put together people who will not question how he wants to run his program because the success is evident but now this would be a different thing so Pete you just wrote a story about the decision what is uh what are the factors right now in terms of Dan Hurley making the decision whether to stay in stores or to go to Los Angeles which seems to be a pretty wide range of choices there yeah so I think you know the the ver W Jew was the Target and I think Dan Hurley is the target I think he has a looming decision to make in the upcoming days W just reported that you know this decision is really going to come into Focus over the next few days and I think ree that this is the most you know compelling basketball decision we will see this year and quite frankly and in many years as you said Yukon has won six national titles since 1999 it is the sports best program for the last quarter Century the Lakers have not been the best franchise for the last quarter Century but they have certainly been the most interesting and they are undenied ably the most glitzy even as I sit in the city of Boston and uh have tickets in the rafters for game one of the NBA finals tonight I would not say that in any way that the the Celtics job is has the cache of the Lakers job it there’s just something about the celebrity in Hollywood that gives that job an extra Allure so Danny Harley has to decide much like Mike shashy had to decide 20 years ago this month do I go to Los Angeles and try to slay the biggest beast in basketball the the most challenging and vexing job in basketball or do I stay at Yukon and have the court named after me and have and I know some stuff probably named after Calhoun and Gino and welld deserved by the way but like you you can be immortal there and you can keep winning there and I don’t know if he would be the first three peep coach uh since John Wooden this year that’s certainly not guaranteed the way rosters turn over but I think they’d be in the thicket of the conversation for it and we’d be surprised if they weren in’t a top four seed and you know scare the pants off whoever they play that second weekend of the tournament um obviously you know he’s he has brought back some key pieces but really brought in some some good pieces too to to put another contending roster together so I am I am I have my popcorn ready and I’m fascinated by how the next couple days unfold there there are a number of facets to evaluate with this one is the the power of LeBron James the second is the demeanor of Dan Hurley though that might be one in onea um the difference now in coaching in college from The Mike shashy Pursuit 20 years ago and from the Tom ISO Pursuit by the Cleveland Cavaliers which uh you know maybe if you injected ISO with truth serum he might admit that he has had moments in which he has regretted not at least spinning that Wheel of Fortune and there are some guys who have proven to be better suited for a college game than the pros both in football and in basketball but the game in college now is way different and Dan Hurley had to make some adjustments to embrace the types of things needed to be able to compete uh dealing with donors for nil making sure that you uh shake the right hands and kiss the right babies and all of those things particularly at a school that doesn’t have the influx of football Revenue at its disposal that some of the others do and Yukon will not have that for the foreseeable future so Jeff you’ve you’ve been around uh you know both a ton of college programs NBA programs you know the difference let’s start with fit for Danny Hurley I think because that’s where you have to start do you see him as being able to tweak adjust uh downplay the moments when he gets into it with fans downplay the moments when he just goes in on players I don’t think he should try to be someone he’s not because it won’t work if he does but there are things that will have to be tempered dealing with grown professionals as opposed to younger professionals which is what college players are now there will be things that will have to be tempered if he is going to accept this job and be successful how do you assess that I think it’s gonna be hard for him to completely kind of change what he’s done for 50 something years um you know his part of his personality part of that Persona is what has made him successful as a college coach and sitting on in on his practices at Yukon I mean it’s it’s different it’s it’s kind of anxiety inducing watching it I mean that the profanities are flying it’s really intense NBA practices aren’t going to be like that and I kind of question whether he’s going to be able to totally dial it back he’s dialed it back during games and you see him talking to his players during games there’s really rarely yelling and he’s told me that he doesn’t want to put added pressure on his players it’s why he doesn’t uh yell at them during games he yells at referees um but you still don’t see a ton of NBA coaches I mean yeah NBA coaches yelling at referees either so he’s going to really have to dial back pretty much that entire kind of aggressive part of his personality uh to to be successful in the NBA but on the other side I do think he kind of sees himself as a basketball coach and in the NBA that’s kind of what you are you’re a basketball coach in college you’re everything else and a basketball coach you have to recruit you have to fund raise you know boosters there’s just so many different relationships you need to have in order to be successful at the college level in the NBA you’re given players you’re you’re told hey go coach them to wins and I think part of him will like that but um from a kind of I I think he’s he’s incredibly kind of ambitious and I think a lot of coaches after winning two in a row would say we’ve won two in a row you know let’s kind of see where the third year takes us he went into the offseason right away saying let’s do some John Wooden stuff let’s go win three in a row let’s reload for another title and I think that he’s kind of probably torn between hey do I Want To Make History do I want to be you know kind of cement myself as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history or do I want to kind of say I don’t need to do all that stuff um you know Yukon even after winning two in a row they’re still not the you know you know they don’t have the deepest pockets they don’t have the biggest nil you know there are kids that are going to still choose Kentucky over them and and this is after being at the Pinnacle of the sport for so many years and he’s also said after winning the first one I think he told Seth Davis that it didn’t fulfill him the way he thought um and so he could be looking for something he turned down Kentucky I mean that’s the biggest job in college basketball there’s nowhere else he can really go in college basketball if he doesn’t wi national championships and so so logically the only other option would be the NBA the timing is is is interesting just because again three in a row would would cement his uh his place in the history of the sport but you know the Lakers job is is unique and it doesn’t come around very often I I sort of laugh sometimes and I like to tease my buddy Seth Greenberg about this because when Seth describes Dan he’ll he’ll talk about he’s a Jersey City guy and so I got great sport over the course of this season going oh yeah Jersey City is so so that people are walking into grocery stores and cashing lottery tickets and becoming multi-millionaires or billionaires obviously that’s an anomaly and and I get all of that sometimes I think you know where you’re from uh is overplayed a little bit you know Kobe Bryant for instance from the Hard Scrabble streets of lower Mary and where you know beautiful home great neighborhood there was no one ever grittier or tougher than that guy on a basketball court so it’s not just about where you’re from that make you tough yet having offered that disclaimer and my skepticism about things being uh people from a certain city area region being monolithic in their thinking um now that I’ve offered the disclaimer the hurleys do take great pride East Coast guys New Jersey all of that stuff and now nothing could be more opposite from that in terms of uh thought process and reputation again there are tough people from Los Angeles and Hollywood and Beverly Hills too and there are soft people from those places just like everywhere else but but it is a different mindset especially for someone who takes great pride in being a quote unquote East Coast guy East Coast guy famel how does this play into that well remember the the night that uh Yukon won the title uh myself and others asked Dan Hurley about the Kentucky job and he joked that he couldn’t move his that his wife Andre complained about moving to Rhode Island because it was too far from uh New Jersey never mind uh moving her to moving her to Kentucky now there are beaches in Los Angeles as we know and uh the contract that Hurley is likely to be offered here soon uh is going to probably be able to afford some nice uh close to the beach property um in uh a place like Manhattan or Rondo or or one of those uh very very high-end zip codes but the the look I think the job Dan Hurley has had the longest was nine years at St Benedicts and Newark right I think sort of Jersey toughness seat and Hall player um is uh is you know he’s had his bonafides with uh with that and and how he uh how he came up and where he’s going to go but I I agree with what Jeff said when you look at his practices and you look at the the way he’s run a program I think there’s just going to have to be a rewiring in in a in a completely different approach now he is a very introspective guy he’s spoken a lot really eloquently and and beautifully about mental health um in the past year or two uh I don’t want people that listening to this and Lakers friends learning about him to think he’s just some like you know Meathead who uh you know is just you know cursing up a storm in one way um there’s a high level of intellect behind that intensity but you cannot ignore the level of intensity and how it manifests itself people don’t see when he draws up the great skip pass for a three-pointer they do see when he has his hands behind his back and he’s sort of pecking at officials as he uh as he does over and over again the sideline during games and complains about every call and histrionics and gesticulations and such which is just the way he does it uh at Stats and info look this up this morning they don’t have technical fowls charted statistically by person but by program since hle got to Yukon they have the third most in all of division one I think it’s a safe assumption that he has absorbed most of those 25 technicals over that over that period of time I’m sure a player got mad once uh you know maybe not assistant coach but that is that is part of his Persona that’s part of who he is and look Jeff and I have covered two straight final four runs of Yukon and there’s been testimonial after testimonial from players Donovan kingan Alex caraban um the that passion and fire that he is that’s like his innate gift it’s Player Development and it’s connection and those are transferable skills the packaging of those transferable skills is going to have to change now clinging especially because I did a big story on him this spring was was very like look he is hard on me and I appreciate that but he also said he loves me just as hard off the floor clingan’s uh best friend at Yukon is is Hurley’s son Andrew so I do think like he has found and struck that balance but I we’d be naive to not say there’s going to be another Evolution that’s necessary would you agree with that Jeff for him to to now connect with Pro guys yeah I mean he he’s shown he can adapt tactically and you mentioned it he’s his offense over the past couple years has been you know arguably the best in college basketball in NBA people have said you know they run an NBA offense that could translate all this stuff can he adapt fully from an emotional uh perspective and I just that’s going to be a lot harder that’s in you that’s your personality and again he’s 50 something years old like that doesn’t change overnight you can change an offense very quickly you can’t necessarily change your personality that quickly but it’s just it’s the way that college players love to be coached like that love to be coached hard a certain type of college player at least I mean a lot of guys aren’t transferring out of his program so you you can still see hey there’s still a lot of college players that want to be coached like that I don’t know if NBA coaches NBA players do I I think that they they’re going to say hey we’ve we’ve already been through you know that style of coaching a lot of you know it’s more you see it more in college and in high school and now they’re going to say Hey you know we’re making $32 million a year or whatever we don’t we don’t need to be screamed at and yelled at for for two hours every day um and again I mean those practices that he runs they’re hard they’re constant they’re they’re physical um and it comes out in college and it really it translates to wins at the college level will that would it work that way in in the NBA and I think that’s kind of the biggest question that’s going to be a question he has to answer whether he can dial it back and and adjust himself the way he has from a on the court coaching perspective can he also do that uh from an emotional standpoint I I don’t want to split hairs over semantics um but I do want to point out that I am not in the camp that Danny Hurley needs to change he needs to temper in certain areas because if he tries to change then he loses some of the genius that he has the connection that you’re talking about Pete if he tries to go in Mr melow never say a thing these guys are Pros it’s not going to work because that’s not him just needs to temper he needs to not yell at uh to use your uh example Pete he needs to not yell at a fan in the middle of February in Cleveland I’ll knock you out as he walked up the floor as he did in kraton to Great sport which I had great fun with when we went to Yukon a few days later uh you know after that with him um but I’ve had the opportunity to sit and talk with him the day before the last two national championship games in one-on-one settings he he’s a quiet introspective really really smart guy and you guys mentioned building the connections that’s the key more so than him like shaping himself into what others might think an NBA coach ought to look like the key is the connection and the most important connection that he will make the two most important ones are with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and those guys are established particularly LeBron in terms of being a leader and warning things a certain way LeBron has been public about his admiration for Danny’s offense uh you know on social media and so forth um if in fact his son were to wind up being a member of the Lakers as well I would think that LeBron would like having bronnie uh have Danny Hurley Aid in that development as he comes along but I don’t think he should change he just has to temper and you know we we have this perception there are a lot of coaches who are who are fluent both at the NBA level and in college basketball and the four-letter vocabulary and there are some who have been considered for our for NBA jobs in the past famously who are quite fluid in a 12l vocabulary I’ll let you figure that one out if you want to but you know so you’ll have to watch the 12 letters I think in like who they’re aimed at and what and what they’re what they’re for but you know Hurley’s Hurley’s got a lot of new age stuff to him you know the the the meditation the sensory deprivation uh Chambers the uh the counseling that he’s talked openly about from his difficult times when he was a college player um you know he joked a couple of years ago that prior to winning the first national championship that because his dad you know a Hall of Fame National Champion coach at the high school level Bobby Hurley obviously two-time National Champion as a player that he had to sit at the Kitty table right and until he would won a championship I asked him this year before if you win again and you go back to back as a head coach are you now seated at the head of the table and Jeff I think this speaks a little bit toward that competitive drive that that achievement oriented mindset that he has is now he has a chance if he chooses to do this to go in and do something not that he he he loves his brother and his father’s entire family I’m not trying to say there’s any animosity there but I do think he’d also like to achieve something that that they weren’t able to do that’s completely different and this could be an opportunity for that might be a driving for for him yeah I mean it’s when he turned down the Kentucky job a couple of months ago I think that was sort of a sign maybe he said if I’m turning down the biggest job in the sport there’s really nothing else for me to do in college and I think that’s there really isn’t I mean there’s no no other job he’s going to take and I think that everyone assumed because he’s such a perfect fit at Yukon he was just going to coach there until he retired and I think that the NBA when it comes around is it’s always been an option I mean I think when you have kind of the tactical Acumen that he’s shown over the past couple years NBA teams are going to take notice and I do think that he kind of views it as especially the Lakers job as sort of a you know I’m at the Pinnacle of college basketball can I be at the Pinnacle of the NBA also um and I think that like I said before that ambition that he has I don’t think it lends itself to hey I’m just going to coach out you know the string coach out the next 12 years in stores and call it call it a day um I think he would want to test himself um and people are going to say hey’s comfortable at Yukon I I don’t I just don’t know how how much he wants to be comfortable I think he always wants to to push himself and test himself some of that’s you know from himself some of that’s from his family but it does seem like this would be kind of the chance that he has to really really test himself at the highest level and take you know one of the biggest franchises in American Sports um try to I guess not rescue them but take them to the next level and Coach you know one of the two greatest players ever to play basketball hey Pete as you I know that you’re locked in the college space what’s your take on the LeBron angle on this so it’s it’s really interesting because if there again I don’t know the Lakers roster of the Dynamics like 1 to 15 or 17 or how many they have now but the most fascinating part of this is who would probably take umbrage to some of that intensity when it boils over you would assume the star players either LeBron or Anthony Davis but the the the dichotomy here that I think is fascinating is what’s best for Brony might be a little bit uncomfortable for LeBron right like who is going to develop a 19-year-old who has a lot of raw talent and is probably right now a fringe NBA player into an everyday NBA player well I think Danny Hurley can do that we have seen guys make leaps in development um at Yukon the past few years and and go on and quite frankly play well in the NBA and get drafted high so but with with some of that um and that’s like that’s Bonafide that there’s no ambiguity there uh Dan Hurley is an elite developer of players with some of that there’s going to be some you know practices where Dan’s running hot and you know I I’ll be curious and I think he is empathetic enough and thoughtful enough where he’s going to need LeBron as a sounding board if LeBron says hey take it down two notches today I don’t think he’s going to take it up too much right yeah um and look there are just knights in the NBA where it doesn’t go your way and you know he he’s won of his last 12 NCA tournament games and he last lost in mid-February in cranon and by double digits too in the tournament by the way all of yes yes yeah no they smoked everybody they smoked everybody tactically he is there and I give Luke Murray’s top assistant a lot of credit he is was the one behind the scenes you bringing in a lot of the schemes they stole some from from fiva places there’s a famous uh JJ Reit clip that went viral that LeBron comments on you know saying hey this stuff so give him credit I mean we saw him evolve while at Yukon right like we saw him become a a better more evolved different coach and there is certainly room here for another Evolution and and I think it’s possible I think it’s fascinating I also just think we’d be naive to say there won’t be a bumper or to right any transition there’s going to be a bumper to the guys who did it well Billy Donovan had some bumps Brad Steven had some bumps Quinn Snider had some bumps um to me the lake the part of the Lakers here that’s interesting is they’re not signing Dan Hurley to win a championship the next couple years that’d be nice they’re signing him to be a longterm coach to build a program and wo just made this point a few times today and this is above my NBA Acumen but I think it’s worth me parting is that this isn’t like we’ll trade all our first the NBA has changed where it’s not we’re going to trade all our first round picks for a third star we’re going to mortgage the future the NBA if you look at the Timberwolves and you look at the nuggets and you look at of these teams now that have emerged in the west where the like the line of delineation between 1 and 10 in the west is very very thin right these are the teams that have found look look Austin Reeves on the Lakers like guys like that you need to have the identification and development parts of your franchise at high levels in order to compete in the modern NBA you just can’t sit back like the old Yankees model buy stars and hope it works out so the the the hire of Dan Hurley to me is is an admission that a transition is coming and this is the guy we want to see us through the next generation of Lakers now Anthony Davis is very likely a centerpiece of that transition and that’s a good building block to build around but there may be a bridge here and he is the guy they want to over they want to see through the bridge with I think you know the thing the one thing about Hurley is that he has developed intense loyalty from his players that’s important that’ll be the key now we don’t know for sure that he’ll do this it seems as if he’s going to as we record this right now perhaps you’re listening and he’s already had a news conference if you’re behind the times in downloading the podcast but Jeff let’s say that he does let’s say that he becomes the coach of the Lakers now Yukon is in a difficult spot and assuming that they don’t go to a former Yukon coach who has won a national championship Kevin Aly maybe too soon to make that joke but assuming that he did Sue him so I don’t think well that was the whole point of the joke Pete thanks for keeping up Kidd no I’m just if anyone’s the not funny guy on the podcast it’s always I’m totally kidding where do they go I mean you mentioned Luke Murray Luke Murray is viewed as a as a bit of a savant um he doesn’t have any head coaching experience he is viewed in many quarters as a rising star in the coaching industry would they do that where else would they go in your judgment if if they in fact are looking for a head coach I think think the likelihood would be that they would go for some continuity and promote from within now whether that’s Luke Murray I think I think the perhaps the more likely option would be Kaman young he’s been the associate head coach he’s been under Dan since since Dan got to to Yukon in 2018 um and and Hurley has mentioned both Luke Murray and kamman young you know endlessly in in press conferences and how they’re rising stars and Rising head coaches and he’s complimented both for their game planning their recruiting and so I I think he has kind of planted the seeds for of them to eventually take over I don’t think anyone thought it would be in in 2024 but I I I think that Yukon would lean toward the continuity angle and promote from promote from within I mean they they are right now they’re preseason probably top three team in the country um you know they lost a ton they had five guys invited to the combine four guys are probably going to be uh playing in the NBA next season but they brought Alex caraban back he withdrew his name from the the NBA draft at the deadline they bring in a top 10 recruit in Liam mcney they hit the portal for a couple of guys so they reloaded enough where they could compete for another national championship and so the I guess the the um the wrinkle and all that is once if Danny leaves then they have 30 days to enter the portal the entire roster and so that’s going to be hard for for their head coaching search and and if they promote right away and and try to you know keep that roster together that might be their best chance or their best hope to have a successful season next year because if if they go through an entire search and they go after a Bruce Pearl or somebody like that um you know he might not have a roster to come to take over when he does and at that point there’s not a lot of guys left in the portal either and so it it’s going to be kind of a tight tight rope for them to walk for Yukon to walk if they don’t promote from within but I think at this point in the calendar you know there’s just not a ton of guys that are attainable from a bio perspective guys that would leave um guys that would fit Yukon I mean you know Scott drew said no to Kentucky he said no to Louisville like I mean I think he’d probably say no to Yukon also but I also don’t think a guy like him would fit Yukon um you know Shak is smart I don’t think he’s going within the big to go from Marquette to to Yukon there’s just there’s a kind of not not a big number of guys that would fit Yukon and that would leave for it I think you know you go after a Bruce Pearl maybe a brad Underwood but I just think the more likely route for them would be to promote from within and and I think they would end up promoting kamman young so you mentioned buyouts Jeff Steve pel is a yuk Conrad he’s had a lot of success at ruers uh he has the top recruiting class a top recruiting class I don’t know if it’s the definitive one with Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper going to Piscataway that’s a you know r he has reders transformed and now I think on the cusp of a transformative moment um his buyout I believe is $13 million um which is pro would probably be the biggest buy out I ever paid in college basketball right jef I don’t think i’ have to imagine so yeah yeah I just again U we’re doing this in real time here but I would be stunned if anyone paid paid more than that do you think that there would be some re reality to that him coming home and he’s the guy for the next you know 10 years could be I mean I I I think that if they do open it up and go kind of outside the the current staff he would be a name that but again that bio you mentioned those are the kind of buyouts that I don’t think they would pay I mean Nate oats is is very tight with Dan Hurley would Hurley you know recommend him for the job probably but oats his buyout is something like 16 or 18 million and it’s just that’s not entirely feasible especially for for Yukon um and so 13 million might be uh too much for them to spend too and so that’s why there’s just so many factors that I think would just lend them to um promoting from within whether that’s on a short-term basis long-term basis I have no idea but I just think that the the number of candidates that that kind of check all the boxes for Yukon is just not that big if not pel P’s Mentor Jim rested and ready Jim Calhoun bring him back the huner back baby thanks for listening to this emergency Dan Hurley edition of the college game day podcast download wherever you prefer to get your podcast or subscribe and never miss an episode [Music]

On an all new emergency pod, Rece Davis, Pete Thamel and college basketball insider Jeff Borzello discuss UConn Dan Hurley’s big on-court energy and if this unabashed east coast guy would make the move to Hollywood to coach another preeminent team, the Los Angeles Lakers. They also preview potential coaching candidates for UConn should Hurley decide to make the move.

0:00 Lakers aggressively pursuing UConn’s Dan Hurley
5:12 Hurley to bring his big on-court energy to the pros?
7:44 From college to the NBA: How would Hurley fit in?
9:15 Hurley to Hollywood? He’s an unabashed east coast guy
15:15 Hurley’s potential relationship with LeBron James looms large
21:54 Hurley’s potential impact on the western conference
22:48 Potential coaching candidates for UConn if Hurley leaves

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