DAN HURLEY TAKING OVER AT UCONN
CONN.» Dan Hurley became a STORRS, hot commodity after coaching Rhode Island to two straight NCAA Tournaments. Thursday, he left for a bigger name in New England basketball.
Hurley jumped across state lines to join a UConn team that has won four NCAA championships in 20 years but is under NCAA investigation and just finished a second consecutive losing season. The Huskies fired coach Kevin Ollie this month.
“This program, which is part of one of the top public universities in the country, has a championship history and wonderful support from a passionate fan base,” Hurley said in a news release. “I look forward to continuing this proud tradition.”
Hurley was 113-82 in six seasons with the Rams, who went 26-8 this season. They lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Duke. It was the second straight trip to the tournament for the Rams, who won their first regular-season Atlantic 10 championship.
“No other way to put it: Dan Hurley is on fire — the perfect coach for a storied program like UConn’s,” UConn president Susan Herbst told The Associated Press. “At a top public university, with four men’s NCAA championships and 11 women’s championships, we can get the best and we expect greatness.”
The 45-year-old Hurley played at Seton Hall during its Big East rivalry with UConn in the 1990s. He is the son of Hall of Fame high school coach Bob Hurley Sr. and the brother of Arizona State coach Bob Hurley.
UConn said Hurley signed a sixyear contract and will receive a package worth $2.75 million in the first season. UConn said more contract details would be released during a Friday news conference.
Tennessee settles with former AD.
TENN.» Tennessee KNOXVILLE, reached a $2.5 million settlement with former athletic director John Currie less than four months after he was suspended in the midst of the Volunteers’ football coaching search.
Currie was replaced in the midst of a tumultuous coaching search that caused embarrassment for the Southeastern Conference school.
Currie and Greg Schiano signed a memorandum of understanding to make the Ohio State defensive coordinator the new Volunteers football coach before the deal fell apart amid public backlash directed at Schiano.
World record set in figure skating.
ITALY» Olympic figure skating ASSAGO, champions Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany set a world record while claiming their first world championship.
The silver medal went to Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia, and the bronze to Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres of France.
In the men’s competition, Nathan Chen of the U.S. neatly vanquished the ghosts of the Olympic short program to finish first going into the final free skate.
Mikhail Kolyada of Russia was in second place and Vincent Zhou of the U.S. was third.
Footnotes.
Juventus will play in Major League Soccer’s All-Star Game in Atlanta on Aug. 1. The Bianconeri will be the latest high-profile European club to face the top MLS players in the annual showcase. Real Madrid won last year’s game in Chicago on penalty kicks. … Rene Houseman, a striker who won the 1978 World Cup with Argentina, died in Buenos Aires after fighting tongue cancer for the past year. He was 64. Known as “Loco,” or the “Crazy One,” Houseman represented Argentina in 55 games from 1973-79, scoring 13 times. He played in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. … Former lightweight boxing champ Paul Spadafora pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and simple assault on police officers who responded to a domestic dispute at his Pittsburgh home in 2016. Spadafora, 42, was sentenced to time served and probation. … Megan Rielly of Regis High School took second in the junior Freeride World Tour ski world championships in Kappl, Austria. — The Associated Press