National championship win earns UConn coach Hurley $500K bonus

It’s been a good few weeks to be UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley.

Hurley completed perhaps the most dominant two-year run in college basketball history Monday night with his UConn squad, beating Purdue 75-60 and clinching the program’s second straight national championship.

“I just think it’s the best two-year run I think in a very, very long time just because of everything we lost from last year’s team,” Hurley said following the win. “To lose that much and, again, to do what we did again, it’s got to be as impressive a two-year run as a program’s had since prior to whoever did it before Duke.”

Last year’s title run earned Hurley a significant contract extension, taking him through the 2028-29 season. The contract was worth more than $30 million at $5 million per year, plus incentives. That $5 million could soon turn into more, however, as athletic director David Benedict said Monday night he would look at making a new offer or restructuring the deal.

The contract extension possibility comes as Kentucky, one of the more storied programs in college basketball history, has an opening following the departure of John Calipari. Early Tuesday morning, however, Hurley shot down those rumors. Still, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth having a discussion to ensure the coach is 100 percent committed to life in Storrs.

Before that happens, however, Hurley is walking away with some extra money thanks to a wildly successful year.

The national championship win is worth a $500,000 payout. But that wasn’t even the only payout Hurley would collect from this weekend. An appearance in Saturday’s Final Four game earned the coach $200,000 and being named the national coach of the year was worth $100,000. That’s $800,000 in the course of three days. And it’s still a ways off, but if Hurley stays into mid-November, which seems like it’ll happen given his answers about Kentucky earlier in the night, it’s worth another $500,000.

Here’s a look at other bonuses Hurley has earned in recent weeks:

• UConn won the Big East outright, which earned the Huskies coach a $100,000 bonus.

• Then UConn went on to win the Big East Tournament, securing Hurley an additional $100,000.

• For being named the Big East coach of the year, Hurley earned $50,000.

• For appearances in each of the first two rounds, Hurley secured $50,000 — or, $100,000 in total.

• An appearance in the Sweet 16, which UConn won over San Diego State was worth yet another $100,000.

• An appearance in the Elite Eight game earned Hurley $200,000.

• In addition, the Huskies secured a spot in the Final Four after trouncing Illinois. That means yet another $200,000 for Hurley for the Final Four appearance.

Those, matched with the bonuses in the threeday stretch, take Hurley over $1.6 million since the beginning of March. Finishing in the top 10 of the final Associated Press poll earns Hurley another $50,000 and then there are additional incentives tied to academics. That could reach $200,000.