Dan Hurley’s sideline antics at UConn “would not fly in the NBA” and “would have been a challenge for the Lakers,” a former NBA GM says.
Hurley this summer turned down a six-year, $70-million offer to coach LeBron James and the L.A. Lakers in favor of remaining at UConn, where he is pursuing a historic three-peat in the college ranks.
The 52-year-old Jersey City native and former Seton Hall guard has made news on several occasions this season for his sideline behavior, including on Tuesday night when he confronted an official who had his back turned to Hurley, saying, “Don’t turn your back on me, I’m the best coach in the f—ing sport.”
In November, Hurley received a technical foul at the Maui Invitational for cursing out an official in a move that helped contribute to UConn’s loss to Memphis. They would go on to lose three games in three days at the event.
“I just think Hurley would burn himself out [in the NBA],” former Phoenix Suns GM Ryan McDonough said Wednesday on SiriusXM NBA Radio with Frank Isola. “And that stuff too, falling to your knees, being so demonstrative about calls, that would not fly in the NBA.”
McDonough said Hurley could “adjust his behavior” in the NBA “but the NBA refs would get tired of that pretty quickly. If you’re a ref in the NBA, you don’t take nearly as much lip as some of the college officials do. And when you talk to the college refs, they say privately [that] these elite coaches, these college coaches have a lot of sway with the conferences and even the NCAA, so we don’t like it, but we have to kind of sit there and take it. And also, there are more refs in college, and they rotate around a bit more than the NBA.
“So for all those reasons, I think it would have been a challenge for the Lakers and Hurley, and I think it’s probably in the best interest of both parties that they were not able to arrive on a deal where Hurley stayed at UConn and the Lakers went and hired JJ Redick instead.”
UConn has won 10 of 12 since losing three straight at the Maui Invitational.
Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone told NJ Advance Media he believes Hurley could eventually succeed as an NBA coach. Hurley has long been linked to the Knicks, and some believe he’ll ultimately end up there after his college career closes.
“Does he have to tone down?” Malone said. “At the end of the day, it all depends on your team and your players.
“When I got the job in Sacramento, my first head job [in the NBA] and coach [Gregg] Popovich was a big part of me getting that job, and he called me up and said, ‘Listen, congratulations. This is really important. You gotta be yourself, you can’t be somebody you’re not. But the biggest thing is as you are yourself, you can only get away with that.’
‘For me being emotional-Irish, Pop being emotional-Serbian, Danny being him, you can only get away with that if you’re players know that you care about them. His players at UConn know that he cares about them. Is he tough, is he demanding? Yes, he is, but he wants the best for them. And it’s helped them win at a high level.
“I think if Danny Hurley got into the NBA, there’s no doubt he can coach.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
