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Message: [QUOTE="JeffConn, post: 4251183, member: 11822"] Somewhere in another thread (I seem to have lost its thread location), folks were comparing the coaching career trajectories of Dan and brother Bob Hurley, noting that Bob had a few good years, then settled back into a mediocre state. Bobby is an accomplished college player (I say that, but I never really liked him given UConn's history with Duke.). He started coaching at Wagner as an assistant to younger brother Dan. I believe he may have gone on to be head coach at Buffalo and then got his big break at Arizona State, a PAC12 school. So he has an opportunity similar to Dan to achieve as a coach at the highest college coaching level. I have been thinking about where the brothers have most learned about coaching. Probably from their father, Hall of Famer Bob Hurley who excelled at long-time high school powerhouse St. Anthony's in NJ. I've never watched any St. Anthony's games and I admittedly don't have any knowledge about Dad Hurley's coaching skills. But, I suspect that he built his record and reputation on having many of the best New Jersey high school players come and play for him from a commutable mile radius around his school. I recall a story about RJ Cole riding a bus or train daily for 45 minutes or so to get to St. Anthony's and play for Coach Bob Hurley Senior. So the father was probably a good recruiter and Dan most likely picked up some recruiting and many coaching skills by learning from his father. Because of a greater disparity in talent at the high school level, much more so than in college, the teams with the better players have a much higher probability of winning consistently. Already having the superior talent, a lot of high school coaches simply need to emphasize hard play to let their superior talent overcome and dominate opposing teams. While the High-Major college game is also ruled by the teams with superior talent (as Jim Calhoun once indicated Coash Dean Smith confirmed to JC in a private conversation), there is more opportunity for a more knowledgeable, skilled, strategic-thinking and in-game adjusting head coach to have a positive impact. We've see that in games when UConn plays Villanova and Creighton. Back when UConn was looking for a coach to replace Ollie, a lot of fans on the Boneyard were calling for Dan Hurley to be hired. He has a good performance history as a turnaround specialist at Mid-Major schools. So far, Dan Hurley has done an excellent job re-establishing our team's winning culture and bringing higher rated recruits to UConn. But just as players must improve their overall game when they move on and play at a higher level, so too must coaches. The coaches must grow as well. Dan Hurley is now competing at a higher level against teams that have highly skilled and accomplished coaches along with highly recruited players. The process of becoming a champion (at the league level and nationally) usually takes experience (with the pain of losing), learning and time for a head coach; otherwise Duke and Kentucky would win most years with their annual top recruiting classes. After the Dream Season, it took Calhoun 9 more years to climb the NCAA mountain. I believe Jay Wright's teams lost a lot of earlier round games (in 2014 to Shabaz and company!) in his process of figuring things out. As Calhoun did, I am hopeful that Coach Dan Hurley will continue to improve his coaching acumen and performance with UConn at the High-Major level. [/QUOTE]

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