UConn’s Hurley, Edsall both recieve contract extensions

Athletic director David Benedict signed contract extensions for Randy Edsall on Jan. 15 and for Dan Hurley on Feb. 26, putting ink to his belief that UConn football will accomplish what UConn men’s basketball is deep into and being rewarded for — a turnaround.

Both coaches are now on board for two years longer than their contracts had called for. The new agreements, which run through 2023 for football’s Edsall and 2027 for basketball’s Hurley, keep most basic preexisting terms in place for both coaches.

Edsall, 62, whose initial fiveyear contract was to expire in December, will be paid $1.256 million during the first year of the contract. Hurley, 48, will earn

$2.9 million in year one. Each contract contains incentives that can increase compensation every year.

“Dan is who we thought he was,” Benedict said of Hurley, who in his third season has the men’s basketball team, barring a bizarre twist, headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

“He is what we thought he was, and we’re very fortunate to have him. … This is our way of committing to Dan and making sure he’s committed to us, and wanting to make sure that he’s going to be around a long time.”

Protection against a Hurley departure is built into the contract. The coach would owe UConn $10 million if he left before April 1, 2022; $6 million before April 2023; $4.5 million before April 2024; $3.5 million before April 2025; and $2 million before April 2026.

That situation is uncomplicated. Hurley has recruited well and won in short order, like he did at Wagner and Rhode Island. UConn’s progress is evident on the court and behind the scenes.

Hurley was hired in March 2018 on a five-year deal, with a sixth triggered when the NCAA levied penalties after an investigation of violations under Kevin Ollie. UConn went 16-17 in 2018-19, 19-12 in 2019-20 and is currently

13-6 in its first season back in the Big East.

Edsall, with a 6-30 record since his return, has more to prove.

“Randy is a program builder,” Benedict said. “He’s done it before and he’s doing it again.”

The football Huskies elected to skip the 2020 season, and the program, now rife with experienced players and having taken a year to focus exclusively on training and teaching, has entered a phase in which excuses won’t pass.

UConn will begin play as an independent football program in 2021, beginning Aug. 28 at Fresno State. Interesting schedules have been built well into the future. CBS Sports Network is under contract to televise games. It is unclear when, or if, the state will embrace the program the way it did during Edsall’s first stint in 1999-2010. The Huskies, sooner than later, must look like a competent team.

“When we made this hire and made the change, we knew it was going to require patience,” said Benedict, who fired Bob Diaco the day after Christmas in 2016 and hired Edsall days later. “Now it comes down to performance. And Randy certainly understands that and knows that we have to begin to make strides on the field. I think we’re always going to have a percentage of the fan base that will come and support you regardless, but there’s also a percentage that want to see you be competitive, and we’ve got to take steps … and win more games.”

The men’s basketball team closes the regular season Saturday at home against Georgetown.

UConn basically punched its NCAA Tournament ticket Wednesday night with a victory at Seton Hall.

Benedict, who travels to all men’s basketball games, called it “a really nice win to be a part of, probably primarily because of knowing what the last five years have been like and knowing that those kids, the seniors who have been a part of this, they got to experience something that obviously we expect kids to experience when they come to UConn. I’m glad they’re going to have that opportunity.

“So I was really happy for them and, look, our fan base is really critical to us. Just like we talked about in football, you have to have success to keep people interested and supporting you.”

Benedict said he began discussing an extension with Hurley during the season.

“This is us showing a commitment to Dan and expressing the fact that we’re appreciative and confident in what he’s doing and what he has done over the past three years,” Benedict said. “We all know where the program was.”

Benedict mentioned several complicating factors that have made Hurley’s job more difficult and, therefore, his leadership even more impressive. UConn had two consecutive losing seasons when Hurley arrived. There were NCAA and self-imposed sanctions for him to work through. A recent eight-game stretch without the team’s top player, James Bouknight, and other injuries could have derailed this season. All the while Hurley has accelerated the program’s progress despite a step up in competition with a move from the American Athletic Conference to the Big East.

“If you just said here’s the fact pattern over three years and this is going to happen to a coach and this is the kind of program they’re taking over, I’m not sure someone would say, ‘Oh yeah, that guy is going to be in his third year, right on the edge of being a Top 25 team,’ ” Benedict said.

All assistant coaches on both staffs operate on oneyear contracts, except football offensive coordinator Frank Giufre and defensive coordinator Lou Spanos. Their two-year deals run through 2022.

Benedict said the plan was never to have Edsall coach while on the final year of his contract. Extension discussions were

pushed back a bit with UConn canceling its season.

“I don’t think, especially with COVID this year, that five years is enough to rebuild this program,” Benedict said. “Because you were really starting over. I’ve talked about this at length previously, about the number of coaching changes that we had prior to Randy coming back and the number of times that you had to really lose a recruiting class. It was really going to take five years to fully put in place a roster where one coach had the time to rebuild it and build it in a way that you can be competitive. … That takes time.

“Whether it would have been Randy or anybody else coming in under the circumstances we were in at that point in time, (that person) was going to need this amount of time to really be fair to them and allow them to see if they could be successful.”

Paul Pasqualoni lasted just two-plus seasons, and Diaco three, after Edsall left for Maryland following UConn’s appearance in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day 2011.

Diaco’s firing cost the university $5.3 million in a buyout associated bonuses and benefits. UConn claimed “just cause” in firing Ollie and, three years later, the university and former coach remain in a legal battle over the $10 million remaining on Ollie’s contract. Benedict had signed both coaches to contract extensions during his first seven months as athletic director.

“The major difference in what I’ve done here versus when I got here is I actually know the people that I’m giving these extensions to,” Benedict said. “I’ve been around Randy now for almost four years. Dan’s been here for three years. I understand and have a basis to make those decisions, whereas before you’re being asked to go on other people’s opinions and you’re looking at a certain set of facts and results — but there’s a limit to what you can learn in some of those cases.

“I think I have much better handle and feel for the commitment I’m making and I think it’s appropriate at this point in time in both of these situations.”