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Second-year coaches: Who's ascending, who's stagnating?
The rookies in charge will get a lot of the preseason attention, but it's the second season that could make or break the tenure of these coaches.
www.espn.com
Dan Hurley, UConn Huskies
Hurley's tenure will get an immediate jolt next season when UConn returns to the Big East, where it had an enormous amount of success under Jim Calhoun. But before then, the Huskies have one final season in the American Athletic Conference -- but it's unlikely they will be competing for a conference title as a farewell.
UConn finished tied for ninth in Hurley's first season at the helm, but it's clear the Huskies are bringing in more talent than in Kevin Ollie's final couple of years. Jalen Gaffney and James Bouknight were both ESPN 100 recruits in the backcourt, while Akok Akok was a top-50 recruit before enrolling at UConn early. Hurley also already landed ESPN 100 prospect Andre Jackson for the 2020 class.
Hurley's calling card in the past has been his team's improvement in his first three years. At Wagner, he went from 13-17 in his first season to 25-6 and 15-3 in the Northeast Conference. It's hard to foresee UConn making that sort of leap in Year 2. But at Rhode Island, it was 8-21 to 14-18 and then 23-10 in Year 3. That seems more likely for what Hurley will do with the Huskies. They will undoubtedly be improved this season, but they're poised to make a big jump in Year 3 -- their first season back in the Big East.