UConn Boss Dan Hurley was THIS CLOSE to retiring this summer | College Basketball

UConn Head Coach Dan Hurley sits down with Matt Norlander ahead of the season to talk retirement and what he did to be a better leader this season.

00:00 – Start
00:22 – The Book
04:07 – Nearly retiring
09:00 – What to expect this year

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Yukon coach Dan Hurley. I had heard I feel like Have you done any interviews about this book yet? Is this your first Have you Have you talked about this book at all in the past couple of weeks? It never stops. I never Well, it literally you can do a lot with that title. Never stop. Did you come up with the title? I I was We were I actually fought with the publishers, by the way. Never stop on sale literally wherever books are sold on this planet. Go ahead. I wanted um there was two. I I wanted everything or never stop because I do think that with the book what I tried to do was while still being like pretty actively as a in the sports world doing something that that’s pretty honest and open while you’re still active as opposed to you know a lot you get a lot more open and honesty when people’s careers are over. Right. So for me, you’re in the midst of it. I’m in the midst of it and I thought, uh, you know, books have impacted me a lot and I thought that maybe, you know, my story may help people, maybe inspiring, maybe motivating. It’s been a heck of a journey. Um, we don’t have enough time to get into everything that I want to get to on this, but I will just a couple things on the book. Um, which I haven’t read yet, by the way. Um, apparently someone on your team sent me a copy, but I haven’t I haven’t received it yet, but I’m looking forward to reading it. Um, the fact the fact that you wrote this book now and you did a book tour in the midst of the preeason, I mean that that astounds me. I guess it’s the best time to do it leading into a season cuz the other only other time would be March, which you cannot do, but like how have you handled that doing like book promotion and trying to ready for a season? Like it just runs it runs counter to how I would think you would want to do it. Yeah. Well, I mean, it was a it was a 36-hour window that we had between literally uh practice ending and then I had about a 36-hour window where I tried to do, you know, as much as I could for the book and then maybe you throw in there a couple more Zooms where you you jump on and talk about, you know, the the book itself. So, you know, listen, the the project you get involved with Ian Okconor, who’s an amazing writer who’s known me my whole life in basketball to tell your story. Um, you know, and then it it’s something that um, you know, something that I I put my heart and soul into that I I’m it wasn’t just some thing where it’s like some money grab or something you do because you win a couple championships. It’s like there’s a lot of really personal, family, career, professional development struggles in there that I wanted to share with people. And it’s been worth it. The emails, the direct messages, uh the letters I’ve gotten from people that that the book have helped, people that are dealing with mental health struggles, um you know, struggles in their marriage, struggles in their career. It’s it’s made it worth all that. Well, I remember when we sat down in your office in Rhode Island seven and a half years ago, and I don’t know if that was the first time you had ever like truly opened up, but I know that I think that kind of maybe helped pave the way to to even getting to this point. So, you you know, you’ve been willing open. I always give you a ton of credit for this, Dan. Um, you have been available to talk about like the highs, the lows, the fores, the flaws, and all that stuff. Um, so I’m not surprised that you wrote the book, but I just think about where you were. We talked in that Rhode Island all those years ago, where we are now. It’s just kind of I don’t know. It’s kind of astounding to me. Are you Are you astounded by your journey over the past seven years since you got to Yukon? Now I I think doing the book makes you a lot more introspective and appreciative about the journey. I think uh really both things. I think having a year like we just had that was very challenging and uh you know and took me to a point where you know I I did think about um taking a gap year or just you know being done with it. I was getting there. I mean we can dive right into it. Yeah. Yeah. That was a what a good week. Yeah. Uh close to it. Couple days minimum. Yeah. I mean a couple days minimum. And it wasn’t like it wasn’t you being you being like I catch you on the wrong morning and Yeah. last November and you might be like, I’m I’m going to retire. Like this was like serious like do I need to do I need to step away? Do I is do I need you got you got legitimately close to thinking like maybe you should be doing this? Yeah. Yeah. I mean I had such a I had a year, you know. It was just a it was a year for me. I mean it was uh I didn’t coach my best. I didn’t lead my best. Um you know I didn’t put together you know a group that could compete for the things we wanted to compete for. Um, you know, add on top of that just some of the fatigue from, you know, what the last couple of years, as great as they were, um, there there’s a tax you pay for that. And then, um, you know, then you end the year with, uh, an emotional loss and a game like you felt like you had a chance to win and keep it going. Um and then you have one final uh incident to end the year which takes all the focus from what you had done the last couple years and for I would say how emotional I was in the press conference, how emotional I was talking to Tracy after the game all and it was all my doing. I’m not a victim. We got enough victims in the world. I you know I I did it to myself and I did it throughout the year. um was not able to kind of celebrate the run that we had because all the attention was on the uh the jackass that I acted like in the tunnel. And I think all those things combined to put me in a in in a state where I had to consider, you know, what I wanted to do next. Uh are we going to see, and I’m not going to lead the witness here. I’m not saying I I want to see this or we should see this, but like after all of that, going through the book process, are people going to see like a different Dan Hurley on the sidelines or are you just still are you still going to be you like No. Okay. No, you’re going to see the same. I would say just um you know for me where I getting back to my values as as a coach and you know that there’s always going to be as as the coach at Yukon or as a as a Hurley in basketball there’s going to be a life or death urgency to your pursuit of championships and greatness and excellence and there’s going to be an intensity or an energy that you bring to the sideline that that won’t change. But I think it’s um but also while that’s going on, enjoying the relationships it um getting the most out of your team. you know, some of the stuff I’ve talked uh about with how Gino was able times to kind of talk me uh, you know, talk me out of some bad mental states I was in with last year’s team where I coached them angry and I coached them with too much ego where, you know, if we weren’t performing at a NCAA championship level instead of helping them get better and max out their potential, I just got mad at my team all winter. And um that’s where um it’s not a problem with this year’s team because we’re going to have all the requisite things if we’re healthy uh to compete for the national championship again because we’ve got the traits, we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the depth. Uh but I think uh yeah, I think I’m going to be a better leader for my team. And if I could avoid the fan stuff at the end, that’s I mean there’s always going to be some level of conflict with officials because part of the art of coaching is working the refs. I may not do it well all the time, but it’s player development, tactics, leadership, motivation, program branding, got all these different aspects of being a coach, you know, like working the officials as part of it. You may say I absolutely suck at it, but it’s part of what my job is. But the fan stuff, I I would love to be able to just take myself from when the game is over to the tunnel, just back to the locker room nicely this year. That’s I would like that. Do you think you’re going to be able to do it? I don’t know. You’re going to catch yourself in a moment. It’s going to be a close game. You might be pissed because you’re up with four minutes to go and then you lose and you just don’t know how it’s going to You got to find You got to find like something that can like zen you and focus you in, you know, like I feel that’s right. I’ve done I’ve done a lot of work on myself in the offseason to prepare for that. I think uh I do I I I would just like to get to and from the court at the end of the games more seamlessly and avoid that because I think that is the the part that I think um deserves the criticism. I think that part of it, you know, just not not not like when a when a fan’s yelling at you in the tunnel, even as obscene as it is and as nasty and as personal as it is, just just go in the locker room, man. You know, just get to the locker room. Okay. Uh I want to ask about your players, but one more thing. Um I think the way that you uh have relationships and handling yourself with the media has has has mostly been uh pretty good, but mostly been pretty good. But I just wonder how much like last year with some of the struggle I mean you gave me one of the I wish I had it on video but after the first loss in Maui not to bring it up but you were like what I gave the cameras today was Oenheimer. I don’t even know if you remember telling me that you were you were like I gave him Oenheimer. I’m like you absolutely did. Um but that brought on a certain level of of criticism. Um when it comes to your relationship with the media at large and that’s a that’s a wide swath of people. Um, how would you how would you evaluate it in the big picture, I guess, and how much does it have an impact on what you do as a coach? Hey, listen, I thought it at at um, you know, it it it became personal at times. Uh, you know, for me the, you know, I think the the critiques and the criticisms, they go with the territory. um you know, when you become a a two-time national champion back to back and going for a third, um you’ve got a lot of eyeballs on you and um you know, like being highly critical or or uh is part of, you know, what the media is looking for to produce something that’s going to be viral worthy, something that’s going to create, you know, clicks and likes and discourse and all of the fans that hate me are going to like it and comment. And then the Yukon fans are then going to attack that. I understand you know the mechanisms behind what the media is trying to do there. Uh I provided the ammunition. I’m again I’m not a victim. In a lot of cases I deserved some form of criticism. I I don’t uh the the part for me that I think is challenging is and it’s not an excuse for for poor behavior or poor sportsmanship but I do think that sports is only great excellent what the fans want when you have intense really really intense people participating in it like really like people that look at it like a life or death struggle or a battle when they’re going to those extremes for their fans and and you’ve got intense rivalries and coaches that don’t like each other because they’re desperate to win and you just that’s what makes sports great. Not coaches that or players that are did we win? You know, yeah, we’ll get them next time. I I don’t think that I don’t think that the fans want to hear that from their coaches or players that are making millions of dollars. All right, let’s do rapid fire. Your SID is looking at me. I think he’s giving me the desk there. But let’s go real quick here on a just a few things. Uh you St. John was picked to win the league. But you Oenheimer you told me the cameras today was was Oenheimer. I’ll never forget it. Um St. St. John’s picked ahead of you in the league, but you’re picked ahead of them in the AP poll. So it’s it’s eye the beholder. I got you ahead St. John’s in the conference. Other people don’t. Uh motivating or not? like at this point like whatever like you were driven by a lot of things. I just wonder if if like you remotely care that the preseason poll came out today and coaches in the league said St. John’s narrowly will do better than Yukon. I think that just the experience of the last couple years um at times I’ll use some some wood to throw on the fire, but preseason polls I find to be maybe the most meaningless things, right? That awards polls they tend to be pretty meaningless. My 23 team was not ranked in the preseason. We talked about that in advance of the of the of the season. And I’m not I don’t think you had us on your preseason ballot. Uh that season I did not. Yes, we have talked about I just wanted to remind you remind you of that. I think I think I had you like top five last year so I was wrong about that as well. Just So you over you over plays and now I have you I think I got you five or six. No one cares. Um yeah, I don’t it’s I have no I don’t care. I I think I’m I’m most focused on fixing our defense. uh you know getting Terrace healthy and on the court and that’s my focus. Okay. Uh Solo Ball. Yeah. Can he will be one of the best three-point shooters in the Americas. Does he is he is he going to be the guy that’s most likely to be your all-American? You got a lot of talent. I mean solo ball caravan Terrace go on down the road. But I’m wondering if if you know at this point if there’s going to be an alpha, do you need an alpha? What’s the report on Solo as we as we ready for the season in less than two weeks? I I mean, I think Alex has looked like like we uh like he we thought he would look um you know, going into last year. I mean, there’s a maturity. There’s like a man thing about him right now. So, I just think with those three guys, Solo, Terrace, and and AK, you know, we’ve got a big three uh that we’ve built the rest of the roster around similar in 23, you know, where we had the Hawkins, Andre Jackson, Adamo, big three, and then we went out and got a Tristan Newton, a bigger point guard like we did with Silus De, we went and got Hassan Diara, you know, a guy who would give us a little bit of a different element at that position. uh you know uh like Malachi Smith, you know, we’ve got multiple centers behind Terrace. I think Ryba’s really talented and he’s going to be a really good compliment. Uh and then we got some depth on the wing uh to supplement um you know the scoring punch with with Alex and and Solo with Brilen Mullins and Jaylen Stewart, Jaden Ross, Jacob Fury. I mean, this is a deep and talented team and it’s all going to come down to can we fix the defense because uh we’re going to be better offensively than we were last year. Uh but it’s just can we fix the defense and uh obviously Silas has got to play a big role in that and Solo has got to play a big role in that. Uh because he did not defend well last year in our perimeter defense was was total crap. Yes. Uh you saying you’re going 10 deep by the way? Am I hearing am I hearing? There’s a chance. I mean, at ROI, my last year at ROI, we got nine or 10 deep because we were just so loaded with talent. Uh, I mean, we were so deep that year. We had three point guards who were able to play. Jeff Doutton. Yeah. Jeff D. Oh man, let’s remember some dudes right now. Jarvis Garrett. Yes. Fats Russell. Fats Russell. I mean, remember that guy. Dynamic, incredible player. But we were able to play nine or 10 deep that year. Stan Robinson, EC Matthews, Surel Landravine, E Jared Terrell. I mean, Andre Bry, I mean, that was an awesome team that went very deep. Okay, last thing. Brilland Mullins, general expectations for him, and he’s a different kind of player. Uh, but Parish and I talked about you guys on our Big East preview. He’s not he’s not McNeely in terms of what you’re going to ask him to do in his his build, all that, but is he going to be asked to produce at a near McNeely rate? You don’t need that from him because I know he’s got plenty of talent, but I’m I’m most curious to see how much he plays and how much he factors into your whole operation this season. Yeah. I I don’t think that um yeah I he’s not going to have that level of expectation whatsoever. I mean he’s he is surrounded and insulated with uh with all types of production and veteran players and uh um I I think it’s going to be a cluster of players for us in in that you know eight or nine man rotation that you know average between five or six points and 14 points. you may have a cluster of five guys like that 23 team or even the 24 team where we had five double figure scorers uh in the starting five and or two um two lowest scorers in the starting five were Donovan and Steph Castle who went fourth and seven in the draft. So I think you’re going to see a cluster of players that uh all take pressure off of each other. And I think uh the thing about uh Brilen is he’s got a toughness about him and he’s got a little bit of a physicality about him where I think he’s going to be able to guard for us. Uh and he’s one of the most beautiful shooters of the basketball you’ll ever see. I kind of like to see that. Well, I told we had Alex Cariban on the on the show as well. Uh 360 coaches wish they had Alan Alex Caraban on the roster. You’re blessed to have him. Um he’s going to be a key piece. And as we let Dan go, here’s a reminder. BYU, Illinois at Kansas, Florida here in the Garden. Who else do you have? You’ve got uh Texas, Arizona will be at those games. You want to know how a coach feels about his team. You look at what they do in the non-conference. I think this is objectively the toughest non-conference schedule of any team in the country going into the season. Uh that tells me that you think you can win a national championship because frankly, you and I both know coaches were not scheduled up to that level if they didn’t think they had the dudes to do it. No, you got to um because those are th those are those are monsters and um you know for the majority of those teams are national champion contenders, final four contenders, teams that can win their league. Uh but I don’t I I don’t I think you’re better off playing games like that. I mean, they’re games that you can if you win them uh if if you win enough of them, they put you in a position coming out of the non-conference where you’re playing for seating, you know, and not playing to get in the tournament. Um, but yeah, I mean, we believe in the team. This is uh this is a team I think you’re you’re at ease this time of year because you you believe that the team’s got the requisite characteristics to fix the defense and the depth uh the depth to go the distance and none of those games are happening in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. So, we’re good to go. I mean, avoiding, you know, avoiding Maui and avoiding and my brother Yes, Bob. Now, oh, I I didn’t Bob Bob. Uh, I’m sure you didn’t scare him off from from back. Well, he already had signed the contract and now they’re awaiting uh try to top Bob. Will Bob be able to top what I what I did on the island. No, cuz what you did on the island was Oenheimer. Dan Hurley joining us on the on college basketball podcast. I appreciate you. Can’t wait to watch the team this season. Yes. Wait. Masterpiece of insanity in Maui.