The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘Long overdue’
Dan Hurley responds to Big East’s more diverse coaching roster
Dan Hurley remembers the last time he coached against Shaheen Holloway — a game he figured would indeed be the last time he coached against Shaheen Holloway.
On Dec. 18, 2019, Holloway brought Saint Peter’s into the XL Center for a non-conference tilt with Hurley’s UConn men’s basketball team. The game was borne out of the relationship between Hurley, the former standout point guard at Seton Hall, and Holloway, who succeeded — even exceeded — Hurley as the Pirates’ point guard in the late 1990s.
It also figured to be an easy win for the Huskies, a “buy” game to help pad their overall record.
It wasn’t quite that easy. “We’d get it to 20, they’d get it to 10,” Hurley recalled. “We’d get it to 18, they’d cut it to 12.”
UConn ultimately emerged with a hard-fought 66-56 victory.
After the game, Hurley told Holloway, good-naturedly but not jokingly: “Don’t call me anymore for these ‘buy’ games. You guys are playing too hard, and you defend too well. Don’t call us.”
Now, Hurley has no choice but to play Holloway’s team at least twice a year. After leading Saint Peter’s to an incredible run in the NCAA tournament this past March, upsetting Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue before falling to eventual national runner-up North Carolina in the Elite Eight, Holloway was hired as Seton Hall’s new head coach. He replaces Kevin Willard, who left to take over at Maryland.
“He’ll do great,” Hurley predicted. “It’s great to see him on the road (recruiting). Just great to see a guy from the New York/New Jersey area do so great in basketball.”
Holloway is hardly the only new face on the Big East head coaching roster. Thad Matta, who twice led Ohio State to the Final Four, returns to coach his alma mater, Butler. Sean Miller, who’s won 422 games in 17 seasons between Xavier and Arizona, returns for a second stint at Xavier.
And, of course, after one season at Fordham, Kyle
Neptune has the biggest shoes to fill, returning to Villanova (where he was an assistant for eight seasons) to replace Hall of Famer Jay Wright, who has retired.
The additions of Holloway and Neptune have also made the Big East more diverse. Seven of the league’s 11 head coaches — Holloway, Neptune, Providence’s Ed Cooley, St. Johns’ Mike Anderson, Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing, Marquette’s Shaka Smart and DePaul’s Tony Stubblefield — are Black.
“Once again, we are the leader, when you talk about diversity, equity and inclusion around the country,” Cooley said of the Big East. “We’re not just talking the talk, we’re walking the walk. Kudos to those schools for seeing something in people, not just because of their skin complexion but that they’re the best fit for their school at this time.”
For many years during the Big East’s 1980’s heyday, Georgetown’s John Thompson was the lone Black coach in the conference.
“Obviously, it’s long overdue for the coaching fraternity to be as diverse as it’s getting,” Hurley said. “They’re all incredibly accomplished coaches, too. It’s fitting, with Coach Thompson being one of the best to ever do it.”
A survey of other major conferences reveals that the Big East is far ahead of the curve. Only four of the Big Ten’s 14 head coaches and a mere two of the SEC’s 14 head men are Black.
Stunningly, the PAC-12 will have zero Black coaches next season. Zero.
The only power basketball league rivaling the Big East in coaching diversity is the American Athletic Conference. Seven of the AAC’s 11 head coaches (Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, Memphis’s Penny Hardaway, Temple’s Aaron McKie, Tulane’s Ron Hunter, SMU’s Rob Lanier, UCF’s Johnny Dawkins and Wichita State’s Isaac Brown) are minorities.
“Good for the Big East for being the LEADER — and I use that word in capital letters — in offering opportunity,” Cooley said. “It’s courage, it’s going against the norm and, lo and behold, some great things are happening at these schools. Not that you have to be Black, white, Asian, Latin … it doesn’t matter. You’re hiring the right people and a representation of what the community looks like, what your team looks like. So, good for these schools for doing that, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of the seven who are part of the 11.”
FILLING WRIGHT’S VOID
With the retirement of Wright, a two-time national champion, there is a void at the Big East’s head-coaching hierarchy. Cooley, entering his 12th season at Providence, has been in the league the longest. That makes him the “Dean of the Big East,” something he finds “weird … and interesting, at the same time.”
“Just because you’ve been here the longest, that doesn’t mean you’re the best one,” he said. “That just means you’ve been around a long time, and you’ve been given an opportunity to coach players that you appreciate. I’m gonna do the best I can. I’m pretty sure I’ll make a lot of mistakes. I just hope I’m able to do the right thing for the league, do the right thing for Providence College, and represent our league the best way I can.”
Greg McDermott, entering his 13th season at Creighton, has been at his school the longest. He may have the best team in the league next season. Miller has made it to the Elite Eight four times, but his tenure at Arizona ended in disgrace, fired amidst a corruption scandal. Matta has won 429 games in 17 seasons, but hasn’t coached a lick since retiring from Ohio State in 2017 due to health issues.
Smart led VCU on a miracle run to the 2011 Final Four; Ewing led Georgetown to a surprise run to the 2021 Big East tourney title. Anderson has had success at Missouri and Arkansas. Stubblefield showed some promise in his first year at DePaul.
The sky is the limit for Holloway and Neptune.
Meanwhile, somehow Hurley — entering Year 5 at UConn — is the league’s fourth-longest tenured coach at his school, trailing just McDermott, Cooley and Ewing (entering his sixth season). He’s turned three programs around, and while consecutive firstround NCAA tourney losses have stung, he may be as good a bet as any to fill that vacuum created by Wright.
All Hurley knows is that he’s surrounded by good company.
“Obviously, college coaches are really important in terms of the success of a program,” he said. “So, having such great head coaches in the Big East is going to hopefully solidify the Big East as the best league in the country over the next couple of years.”