Dan Hurley “Seriously” Considered Stepping Down From UConn Last Year

[Lafayette]

Agree. Not every thought needs to be disclosed. It could have effects on recruiting. Keep those thoughts to your wife, dog and maybe your priest.

I support his want to be vulnerable and admit certain feelings and thoughts that accompany them. It comes off genuine and there is supported research in the psychology of showing vulnerability when in sales.

 

[Jaydumo20]

@Travelman6 the inaugural re-use of the thumbs down!

 

[DRBackup]

I tend to underplay the "serious"ness of this - he was just spinning and had to admit the team roster with Mahaney, Nowell, Abraham did not pan out... Diarra hurt and playing lead wasn't right, etc. No doubt so lowly self reflection but I doubt he seriously considered leaving.

I'd put it on a par with that moment of clarity a drunk gets after a rough go with their head in the toilet. Doesn't even mean they stop drinking for more than a few days.

Indeed. You can imagine it like Hurley drunk dialed his EX, but instead, it was Fox Sports to see what they might think.

 

[DRBackup]

A super team? That team went 7-9 the prior year, led by Bruce Arians. Arians basically just took a backseat when Brady got there and said here are the keys Tom. The year he won the SB, he came in second in MVP voting to Rogers, 43 TDs to 12 ints.

Brady went 12-4 with the Pats the year before he left, Beli then went 7-9 the following. Winning went with Brady wherever he went, winning disappeared in Belis life when he didn’t have Brady.

You do realize Brady is one of only two QBs ever to win the SB with two teams. Thats on top of his 7 rings. Let’s not minimize his greatness to make Beli the Brut look better. Cmon. What’s your thing for the miser? I can keep slapping numbers on you till you turn blue. Beli isn’t a great leader, he’s not dynamic. He’s prepared and detailed, yeah.

Belis advantage was pre technology when you could still go into the woods with your scout card and find some diamond in the rough and make them great. Once tech advanced and film/information was everywhere, he kept trying to be cute and just kept bombing draft after draft. There was a time to go chalk instead of trying to be smarter than the analysts, and technology.

The guy is a massive egomaniac.

In fact, the reason that team was 11-7 instead of 7-9 like the previous year was 100% defense. In 2018 the Bucs were 3rd in the league in scoring and in 2019 they were ALSO 3rd in scoring. In 2018 their defense was 29th in points allowed, in 2019 they were 8th. But why let facts get in the way of a good rant ?

 

[JLW]

If I’m a recruit, I’m not sure I want to commit to someone who debates quitting and is constantly talking about his mental health issues. Suck it up Dan and figure it out!,,

 

[uconnfan68]

Awesome. Who is Jimmy G?

Jimmy Google.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

If I’m a recruit, I’m not sure I want to commit to someone who debates quitting and is constantly talking about his mental health issues. Suck it up Dan and figure it out!,,

He seems to do fine on the recruiting trail so I guess it’s good you’re not a recruit.

 

[pj]

I support his want to be vulnerable and admit certain feelings and thoughts that accompany them. It comes off genuine and there is supported research in the psychology of showing vulnerability when in sales.

Agreed. These kind of thoughts are not new for him. He had exactly the same thought in college, and acted on it ("In Dan Hurley’s junior year, the pressure he put on himself became unbearable, and he stepped away after just two games that season amid struggles on and off the court. “I was done,” Hurley said in 2015, according to the Providence Journal. “I was defeated. I hated basketball … I had come to hate the game.”" - Dan Hurley haunted by his disappointing Seton Hall past). What did he take away from that experience? “I’m still haunted by my playing career in a lot of ways, just how disappointed I am to this day in terms of how that went for me at Seton Hall,” Hurley said. “So I do feel this enormous pressure in coaching to kind of make up for that."

Big time college athletics is extremely demanding, and many athletes must ask themselves if it's worth it. Hurley lets them know he knows what they're thinking and empathizes.

And if those kind of thoughts come to him today, after a grueling and disappointing season, what's his conclusion going to be? The title of his book is the answer: "Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes to Be Great". He wants to be great and the lesson he's learned is the way there is to never stop, to work through the doubts and keep going.

He's not quitting. He's being himself, knowing that openness about the reality and legitimacy of doubts gives credibility to his teaching and is good for his players and for his teams.

 

[RuffRuff]

Agreed. These kind of thoughts are not new for him. He had exactly the same thought in college, and acted on it ("In Dan Hurley’s junior year, the pressure he put on himself became unbearable, and he stepped away after just two games that season amid struggles on and off the court. “I was done,” Hurley said in 2015, according to the Providence Journal. “I was defeated. I hated basketball … I had come to hate the game.”" - Dan Hurley haunted by his disappointing Seton Hall past). What did he take away from that experience? “I’m still haunted by my playing career in a lot of ways, just how disappointed I am to this day in terms of how that went for me at Seton Hall,” Hurley said. “So I do feel this enormous pressure in coaching to kind of make up for that."

Big time college athletics is extremely demanding, and many athletes must ask themselves if it's worth it. Hurley lets them know he knows what they're thinking and empathizes.

And if those kind of thoughts come to him today, after a grueling and disappointing season, what's his conclusion going to be? The title of his book is the answer: "Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes to Be Great". He wants to be great and the lesson he's learned is the way there is to never stop, to work through the doubts and keep going.

He's not quitting. He's being himself, knowing that openness about the reality and legitimacy of doubts gives credibility to his teaching and is good for his players and for his teams.

Tend to think he’d walk away if he won a third anytime soon.

The major difference between this and SH as a player is that he’s reached the pinnacle as a coach. He can relax a little, he just doesn’t know how.

 

[temery]

Tend to think he’d walk away if he won a third anytime soon.

He might, but great coaches are defined by sustained success, not ducking out before reality catches up.

 

[REB1094]

Tend to think he’d walk away if he won a third anytime soon.

The major difference between this and SH as a player is that he’s reached the pinnacle as a coach. He can relax a little, he just doesn’t know how.

He won’t be on the list of all time greats because he doesn’t have a decades-long resume, but he’s one of 17 coaches in the history of NCAA men’s basketball with multiple championships (16 if you don’t count Pitino’s vacated one)

Definitely nothing left to prove already, which is crazy since he’s been a HC at the power conference level for only 7 seasons

If he wins another, he’d be 1 of 7. Even less to prove if you’re in that club lol

 

[RuffRuff]

He might, but great coaches are defined by sustained success, not ducking out before reality catches up.

He is in his 15th year of college coaching, has over 300 wins and has now coached a losing program into winning a third time. If he won his third this year for instance, not sure how much you can dock him in the portal era. We are watching coaches drop like flies these days. Hard to put him up against the greatest of greats, but he'll earn a unique place in the coaching ranks with a third title in the portal era.

 

[temery]

Hard to put him up against the greatest of greats, but he'll earn a unique place in the coaching ranks with a third title in the portal era.

Agreed.

 

[Waquoit]

He might, but great coaches are defined by sustained success, not ducking out before reality catches up.

"Reality catching up..."?

 

[temery]

"Reality catching up..."?

Every coach has a bad year or two. The great ones adapt and rebuild and keep on coaching.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

NEXT

 

[Windham4th]

There's not a day that goes by I don't think about quitting my job at least once. This is a non-story

 

[CL82]

Williams and Knight shouldn’t be on the list for transgressions ( cheating, assaulting people).

UNC coach Roy Williams was involved in the school's long-running academic scandal, which featured "paper classes" that steered athletes toward fraudulent grades.

As for Bobby Knight:

• Choking a player (1997): During a 1997 practice, Knight grabbed player Neil Reed by the throat. When Reed went public with the accusation, Knight denied it, but video evidence of the incident surfaced in 2000.
• Abuse of former players: In a 2016 memoir, former Indiana player Todd Jadlow alleged that Knight physically abused him and other players in the late 1980s. This included punching Jadlow, cracking a clipboard over his head, and squeezing his gentiles.
• Assaulting a police officer (1979):While coaching the U.S. team at the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico, Knight was involved in a fight with a police officer over court availability. Knight was convicted of misdemeanor assault in absentia after he left the island before his trial.
• Manhandling a student (2000): Just months after receiving a zero-tolerance warning from Indiana University, Knight was accused of grabbing a 19-year-old student who addressed him informally. This incident was the final straw that led to Knight's dismissal.
• Groping allegations (2017): In 2017, a report surfaced that the FBI had investigated Knight for allegedly groping several women during a 2015 visit to a U.S. spy agency. The investigation concluded without any charges being filed.

Just to name a few....

 

[NJHoops]

"Reality catching up..."?

This place is so embarrassing a lot of the time, but it is at least starting to make sense to me why that is.

 

[AntG168]

This place is so embarrassing a lot of the time, but it is at least starting to make sense to me why that is.

There are just some who will always go out of their way to keep Hurley “in his place” so that he never gets close to their lord and savior Jim Calhoun. As if we can’t have 2 GOATS in CBB coaching history. Hurley is a future HOF and will possibly leave UConn with at least the same number of titles as Calhoun in half the time. Insane legendary stuff. Only made mundane by the select few here.

 

[Inyatkin]

He might, but great coaches are defined by sustained success, not ducking out before reality catches up.

Cool, now we're criticizing him for things he hasn't done yet

 

[fatlucy]

If I’m a recruit, I’m not sure I want to commit to someone who debates quitting and is constantly talking about his mental health issues. Suck it up Dan and figure it out!,,

Ok boomer.

 

[temery]

Cool, now we're criticizing him for things he hasn't done yet

Like what?

 

[Inyatkin]

The thing is, when the coach can't say things like "I'm lucky to have this job but sometimes the pressure gets to me" without people screaming "But what will that do for recruiting!!!" it is kind of proving his point.

 

[gtcam]

I find it a bit strange that The AD David Benedict hasn't commented one way or another about the Dan Hurley interview.
Makes you wonder of he even cares (that would be the norm for him) or he is in fear of rattling Dan Hurley if he did say something other than backing him 100% with these thoughts.
I feel for Dan Hurley and his issues, but I feel the decision to talk about these things publicly was/is ill-timed.