Hurley embracing the rebuilding process at UConn
East Hartford — Waves of UConn basketball fans approached Dan Hurley on Wednesday.
Hurley greeted them, shook hands and posed for pictures.
"Hi, I'm Dan," Hurley said to one group. No introductions were necessary. Hurley has been in the spotlight since being hired as the UConn men's basketball coach in late March.
Over 500 people turned out for Happy Hour with Hurley on the club level of Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. Hurley was joined by his three assistant coaches — Tom Moore, Kimani Young and Kenya Hunter.
This is not Hurley's first rebuild job. He's successfully turned around two other programs before coming to UConn.
"Fortunately, for me, I've been through this process two other times at Wagner and then at Rhode Island — the healing, rebuilding the organization, starting something from a struggling point, getting the buy in from the players, putting a great staff together and just kind of fixing the things that are broken in and around the program.
"Twice within the last eight years I've done it. Now this is the third time. So I have a plan coming in," Hurley said.
His plan includes re-igniting the fan base. While he'd much rather be in a steaming-hot gym with his players than an air-conditioned room mingling with fans, Hurley realizes the importance of selling the program, especially one coming off two straight losing seasons.
Hurley also has been focusing on recruiting and building relationships with returning Huskies. It's significant that not one player left during the transition.
"It was important to me that the returning players understood I wasn't coming in and making transactions," Hurley said. "I'm a coach that embraced every returning player that wanted to be a part of rebuilding this great program.
"If the players were on board with doing everything the way that I wanted it done in the program in terms of the culture, the work ethic, the commitment level, then I wanted them to be a part of the program."
Hurley also understands the rebuilding process is different at UConn, which has a rich history, than his previous two stops.
A championship mentality has faded away. The Huskies have been beaten down by losing.
"With what goes on on the women's side and what's gone on historically on the men's side, the healing has been real here," Hurley said. "It's tough to be a men's basketball player coming off the two seasons that these guys have gone through. It's hard walking around campus. It's hard having a lot of confidence and feeling good about wearing UConn men's basketball across your chest when you're part of a couple of the worst seasons in the last 25, 30 years.
"... We've got to change the culture in terms of the work ethic and the commitment level, but also, too, we've got to get these guys feeling better about themselves, more confident. It's tough walking into that practice facility every day seeing those banners and seeing those jerseys and being part of failure."
So far, the players have embraced the Hurley Way.
The real test will come this summer when the intensity of workouts is ramped up.
"For me, my season starts with my team in summer workouts," Hurley said. "Man, we get after it. We're about to get after it on Monday at a level that's probably going to be uncomfortable at times for them as they're adjusting to the intensity level that my teams work at."
In order to help address the team's toughness issue, Hurley hired Sal Alosi as director of Human Performance, which basically covers physical, nutritional and wellness areas.
Alosi has a reputation as being a no-nonsense, tough drill sergeant type. He's been a controversial figure as well. As strength coach for the New York Jets in 2010, he was suspended for tripping a Miami player during a punt return. While working for the UCLA football program in 2015, he had altercation with Sean "Diddy" Combs, whose son played for the Bruins.
Hurley addressed those issues with Alosi and felt comfortable hiring him, calling him a good fit.
"We were a team that wasn't very physical last year, a little bit soft at times," Hurley said. "This is a guy that obviously is going to bring a ton of intensity and toughness to a team that probably lacked it a lot of times last year."
In other news, director of basketball administration Kevin Freeman is leaving UConn to become an assistant coach at Penn State. Freeman played for the 1999 national championship team.
"What an incredible ambassador he is, has been and will continue to be for UConn," Hurley said. "An amazing heart as a player and as a coach for these kids . ... I think he's going to be an amazing coach." g.keefe@theday.com