New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Hurley had plan when he arrived at UConn, and he’s been eerily prophetic
NEW YORK — Dan Hurley doesn’t always get it right.
He took too long to put Isaiah Whaley into the rotation and too long to take Brendan Adams out of it. He whiffed on a couple of recruits he’s brought in, and fell short of flagging down some of the biggest recruits out there.
But man, if the UConn men’s basketball coach doesn’t seem to get it right most of the time.
The Big East coaches got it right in naming Hurley the league’s Coach of the Year. But Hurley could just as easily been named Sage of the Year ... or of the past six years. So much of what he’s predicted for his program has come true, often eerily in the exact time frame Hurley had called for. A regular New Jersey Nostradamus. Or something like that.
“As great as the program’s tradition is, it’s only going to be as good as the coaching staff that’s there, the players you attract,” Hurley said. “And obviously the culture that you put in place. Just because the place has a great history, obviously Coach Calhoun and Geno have set UConn basketball up to be one of the best brands in all of college sports, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful.”
Still, so much of what Hurley predicted for the program has come true. Consider the following:
The Blueprint
When Hurley took over at UConn in March, 2018, he had a rebuilding plan in place. Essentially, the same plan he had executed at Rhode Island over the prior six years, when he guided the Rams from a 6-21 record to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the program’s first time in 20 years.
It looked something like this:
Year 1: Excruciating losses, lopsided losses ... but overall, just a lot of losses, tempered with gradual improvement and recruiting success.
Year 2: More excruciating losses, fewer lopsided losses. The seeds of success planted with dynamic recruits, coupled with the stewardship of wily veterans and a deep, versatile roster. “It’ll look better. You’ll be able to see what’s coming down the line.”
Year 3: A truly competitive team vying for an NCAA Tournament berth.
Year 4: Expectations of championship-level success; a real juggernaut in place.
Year 5: Time to put it all together and think national championships.
Look familiar? Year 1 had losses — 16 of them in all — both excruciating (Cincinnati, Wichita State) and embarrassing (Villanova, Temple, Houston ... oh, Houston). Year 2 started with perhaps the worst loss of Hurley’s tenure, at home to St. Joseph’s. But James Bouknight had arrived, and by the end of the season, the Huskies had won five straight, including a home finale over No. 21 Houston, and were hellbent on winning the AAC Tournament and earning an automatic NCAA bid before COVID reared its ugly head.
Hurley couldn’t have predicted the COVID effect on Year 3, but the Huskies earned their first NCAA tourney bid in five years, only to be unceremoniously bounced from the first round by Maryland. UConn was ranked just about all of Year 4, James Bouknight had been a lottery pick, future lotterypick Jordan Hawkins was a freshman and more top recruits were on the way.
Year 5? A national championship, perhaps even a year earlier than anticipated, with a top-five recruiting class on the way.
‘It’s coming’
On Jan. 18, 2020, following the program’s third loss in three years to Villanova, this one by just six points in Philadelphia, Hurley famously warned the rest of the nation.
“People better get us now ... because it’s coming.”
Bold, brave, cocky at the time, the statement aged like fine wine. A little over three years later, the Huskies had arrived.
Hope in January
During the January of Hurley’s discontent last season, in the midst of six losses in an eight-game stretch, the coach looked at a positive.
The brutal, physical nature of Big East play would serve as good preparation for March, he figured, when the Huskies would face opponents that were nowhere near as physical and with referees less inclined to blow their whistle as often as the James Breedings and Brian O’Connells of the world. UConn fans didn’t want to hear about March while the Huskies were losing six of eight, but once again, Hurley proved prophetic. Freed from the shackles of bruising Big East ball, the Huskies won their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of 20 points per game.
‘Snipa Out’
On Feb. 26, 2020, Hurley said this about Christian Vital: “His legacy here is not just a guy who accumulated stats, but I think you’re gonna look two, three years down the line when we win a championship — he’s gonna have his fingerprints on it.”
On April 3, 2023, just over three years later, UConn won a championship.
There are plenty more examples. When many wondered how effective Donovan Clingan would be going straight from CIAC public high school basketball to the Big East, Hurley told anyone who’d listen that the big man from Bristol would be just fine. Hurley’s preseason predicted stat lines for Hawkins, Clingan, Stephon Castle and others have been eerily right on the mark. And he’ll be the first to tell you.
Again, Hurley doesn’t always get it right. He predicted (promised?) that once UConn started winning consistently, he’d be a lot easier on the referees and ... well, that hasn’t exactly happened. He was adamant that Tristen Newton should be Big East Player of the Year this season, and that didn’t happen either.
But by and large, Dan Hurley, Big East Coach of the Year, has been downright prophetic over his first six seasons at UConn. Makes you wonder what he’s predicting for his team over the next month.
“You get all the resources and you have an incredible fanbase and all sorts of support,” he said. “But, you’ve got to have the people, or else it’s all meaningless.” It’s coming.
“In this league, it’s iron sharpens iron. The roster of coaches, the accomplishments, it’s a true roundrobin.
“Initially, there wasn’t a lot of celebration when we became aware of it. It was awkward, because we all felt like Alex Karaban, for the second year in a row, was not rewarded with what he earned. That kind of spoiled it a little bit for all of us. There wasn’t a lot of celebrating in your group when you feel like somebody didn’t get what he deserved.”
“I think that’s a zero for us, totally. We did historic things in the league, so you’d expect all of the key components to be rewarded ... There’s nothing external that helps you at this point. We did what we did with the regular season this year. The coaches voted the way that they voted. Now, we turn our attention to the most exciting time of the year.”
“This is tough, man. Obviously, Tristen had a great case. You had Cam, too, and Donovan and Alex and Steph ... so many outstanding players. Devin had an incredible year, too, and (Baylor) Scheierman. This was tough in this league this year. Maybe we need to add a third team (all-conference).”
“I know he won the AP one, and I’ve also seen him on some All-American teams. He’s going to be in the building, it looks like, on the walls and reaching immortality in the building.”
“You get all the resources and you have an incredible fanbase and all sorts of support. But, you’ve got to have the people, or else it’s all meaningless.”