UConn means something. This is how Dan Hurley made it matter again

[Rico444]

UConn means something. This is how Dan Hurley made it matter again

UConn is place that measures its success by national title banners "It isn't hard to understand expectations here," Hurley says.

theathletic.com

Days after the New Mexico State loss, a meeting was called. The only invites: Jordan Hawkins, Adama Sanogo and Andre Jackson Jr. That’s it. The three of them, plus Hurley, gathered in the office.

Hurley went right down the line.

He pointed at Hawkins: “You’re going to be one of the best shooters and scorers in the country next season.”

Pointed at Jackson: “You’re going to be one of the most dynamic playmakers in the country.”

At Sanogo: “And you’re going to be the preseason Big East Player of the Year.”

“All right?”

 

[djct1999]

I will keep saying this, Dan Hurley is far from perfect. All we need is to visit this website after a loss to understand why. But Dan Hurley was/is/will be the perfect hire for this job. I believe this is true for a multiple of reasons. First, Dan Hurley understands, respects, and appreciates what UConn means to the Northeast. He understands, respects, and appreciates are storied history and the man who singlehandedly built it. Danny will never lose site of that. Second, Danny's personality resonantes with our fanbase. As nutty as he is, as implusive as he gets at times, he is UConn and he wants it as bad as the fans and for the fans. Third, he is a player coach. He will defend his boys to the very end, and while he can get hard on them individually, they all know he would run through a wall for any of them. Actions speak louder than words, and his players know how much he values them. Finally, he recruits. He owns the Northeast and at UConn, his reach goes national. UConn helps him get top 50 kids, and he will consisently get the kids he wants. For UConn to thrive nationally, we need that chip on a shoulder. Danny brings that. He adds to that. Not the perfect coach, just the perfect coach for this school.

 

[Get a Job]

"It wandered an island of misfit toys, playing a string of ridiculous seasons in the mishmash American Athletic Conference."

The author sounds like a Boneyarder!

 

[CL82]

This article is terrific! There’s a ton of great stuff in it. This may be my favorite quote though.

’Nova has ruled the Big East for most of the last decade and still carries championship DNA. “Beat it out of them,”

 

[HailUConn]

I will keep saying this, Dan Hurley is far from perfect. All we need is to visit this website after a loss to understand why. But Dan Hurley was/is/will be the perfect hire for this job. I believe this is true for a multiple of reasons. First, Dan Hurley understands, respects, and appreciates what UConn means to the Northeast. He understands, respects, and appreciates are storied history and the man who singlehandedly built it. Danny will never lose site of that. Second, Danny's personality resonantes with our fanbase. As nutty as he is, as implusive as he gets at times, he is UConn and he wants it as bad as the fans and for the Not the perfect coach, just the perfect coach for this school.

Cannot agree more! This is precisely how we all see Hurley/UConn marriage as fans.

I only hope as the time goes by, Hurley learn to be master of his emotions, and don’t let it get the better of him when coaching the close games on the side lines. He proved he could in Creighton game, and keeping at it is the key!

 

[HuskyHawk]

This article is terrific! There’s a ton of great stuff in it. This may be my favorite quote though.

’Nova has ruled the Big East for most of the last decade and still carries championship DNA. “Beat it out of them,”

I hate paying for subscriptions, but the Athletic is worth it (plus you can usually get it for $25 a year), they just seem to take more time and write better articles.

I love the story about the crowd, and Luke Murray's reaction. "For a program of Connecticut’s stature, the celebration was … unbecoming. “Afterward, we were all kinda like, man, really, they’re storming the court?” remembers assistant coach Luke Murray." Most of us here are also "of a certain age".

“Now that I think of it,” says Jordan Hawkins, a UConn sophomore and the Huskies’ second-leading scorer, “my dad was more excited when I got the UConn (scholarship) offer than I was. To him, UConn was like the Dukes and the North Carolinas. I didn’t know all that.”
and
"
The winding, single-lane roads leading to Storrs seem to go nowhere. Craig Hawkins was delighted. Driving along, he could feel his son, Jordan, looking around, bewildered.

“Like, yo, where am I?” Jordan remembers. “What did I get myself into? I was really confused because I didn’t see any McDonald’s.”

This is truly great stuff.

 

[WheelerD92]

I have no real problem with Dan Hurley except that he is related to Bobby. There are clearly people on this forum who may know basketball better than me and can have opinions on DHs decisions. That being said, the reasons why teams aren’t able to perform as required at times is so varied and sometimes intangible. If you play golf, you understand this phenomenon. There are days where you play like you’ve never played golf before and others where even bad shots work out well. Many days it’s mixed. Same with basketball. We have seen 3s fall like rain and others where nothing falls- even with perfect looks. My point is that putting everything on coaching and believing that there is a way to coach out of bad games is overblown. Too many factors at play that have little to do with coaching.

Players seem to respect Coach Hurley and to listen. That type of leadership-doing your best because you have fidelity and respect with your leaders is the factor that, IMO, enables performance and perseverance in times of challenge. If that were missing, he would be an ineffective coach. Players still need to play and make good split-second decisions. Some of that is coachable, some not.

No worries with Hurley.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

archive.ph

 

[Get a Job]

Jackson's quote is like Boneyard :

“A lot of people expected me to be one- or two-and-done, an NBA Draft pick, maybe a lottery pick,” Jackson says. “But that’s not really what my purpose was here. Yes, I want to get (to the NBA), but I told Coach Hurley: I’ll stay four years, I’ll do whatever is needed, I just want to play, I want to win. You don’t come to UConn and see those banners on the wall — 11 on that side, four on this side — and say, oh, I’ll go there for a year or two and get mine. You might as well go somewhere else. This is a championship program.”

 

[Vancat]

Too cheap to pay for yet another subscription. Thanks for the quotes!!!

 

[UCLJ0211]

Excellent article, thanks for sharing!

 

[J187Money]

I just read it - great article. Athletic does some great work.

 

[karstenkibbe]

I knew those Rip-esque shots off of pin-downs looked familiar… My favorite part of this excellent piece, re Hawkins:

“Today, Jordan Hawkins is immersed in the UConn ecosystem. After a strong freshman season, he spent much of last summer working out in Los Angeles. He logged hours with Richard Hamilton, learning methods for coming off pin-downs and staggers. How to get open. How to shake a chaser on defense. Making reads off screens.”

 

[Blue Blood]

Signed up for the athletic just to read it not disappointed, great article.

 

[temery]

I just read it - great article. Athletic does some great work.

Oh. Looking at the url in the post I thought it was "The Atlantic." I am now less confused.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Jackson's quote is like Boneyard :

“A lot of people expected me to be one- or two-and-done, an NBA Draft pick, maybe a lottery pick,” Jackson says. “But that’s not really what my purpose was here. Yes, I want to get (to the NBA), but I told Coach Hurley: I’ll stay four years, I’ll do whatever is needed, I just want to play, I want to win. You don’t come to UConn and see those banners on the wall — 11 on that side, four on this side — and say, oh, I’ll go there for a year or two and get mine. You might as well go somewhere else. This is a championship program.”

This is what I mean when I've said that Jackson is the most likely of our "big 3" to come back next year, and I would even go so far as to say he's more likely than not to stick around. He loves it here. He is not in a hurry to get to the next level.

 

[Kolumbo]

Thanks for the quotes from the article all.

I like Coach Hurley and I don't even think he is all that nutty. He is not nearly as fiery as Coach Calhoun. Most successful coaches are intense, peculiar, a little outlandish. Opponents don't like Coach Hurley because they don't like UCONN. Heck, they bash him on the SU board and they're not even in our conference. Our old Big East opponents hated UCONN for its successes, wanted it to fail after the split, and more so when it joined the NBE. They thought they had beaten UCONN, but they had not.

Great Coach, great UCONN Program.

 

[YearoftheHusky]

I mean, it took Jim Calhoun like 11-12 years before winning his first Natty. It took Jay Wright 15-16 years. Neither of those coaches were perfect when first hired. But they weren’t bad either. They grew as coaches and became great after many years.

While I am not necessarily saying he will become an all-time great, I honestly think Hurley will grow into a very good coach as well. He seems to be on the fast track with every aspect of team leadership and program development except a few in-game coaching adjustments.

He will learn, and we will hang another banner under his tutelage. Just have to show patience and enjoy the ride.

 

[aburks41]

I mean, it took Jim Calhoun like 11-12 years before winning his first Natty. It took Jay Wright 15-16 years. Neither of those coaches were perfect when first hired. But they weren’t bad either. They grew as coaches and became great after many years.

While I am not necessarily saying he will become an all-time great, I honestly think Hurley will grow into a very good coach as well. He seems to be on the fast track with every aspect of team leadership and program development except a few in-game coaching adjustments.

He will learn, and we will hang another banner under his tutelage. Just have to show patience and enjoy the ride.

That banner is coming sooner rather than later. If we don’t take it home this year, next year’s recruiting class will be the one to get it done. We’re going to be very, very good for a long time with Hurley at the helm

 

[Psolo12]

This is one of the best sports articles I've ever read. Incredible.

 

[drayenob]

“It’s different than last year or anything that any of us have experienced, myself included,” Hurley says. “At a place like this, it’s exacerbated. It’s the combination of the UConn brand and its history. Apparently, from a social media standpoint, too, our fan base is very — well, I think because of the championships, when we win, from what I’m told, the fans are out there, like, mocking other teams. So, you add that, plus the hatred other programs have for me, because of how hard I coach. And, you know … ”

 

[MDHuskFan]

I knew those Rip-esque shots off of pin-downs looked familiar… My favorite part of this excellent piece, re Hawkins:

“Today, Jordan Hawkins is immersed in the UConn ecosystem. After a strong freshman season, he spent much of last summer working out in Los Angeles. He logged hours with Richard Hamilton, learning methods for coming off pin-downs and staggers. How to get open. How to shake a chaser on defense. Making reads off screens.”

Didn’t realize he spent time with Rip this off-season. What a great mentor for him to have

 

[nomar]

This article is terrific! There’s a ton of great stuff in it. This may be my favorite quote though.

’Nova has ruled the Big East for most of the last decade and still carries championship DNA. “Beat it out of them,”

This one's great too:

“I know how these Hurley boys are,” Craig Hawkins says, as if Dan and Bobby have spent their years evading Boss Hogg, “because I know how they were raised.

 

[nomar]

If you have the scratch, get a subscription. I can't say I even read it that frequently, but every single article is quality. They have beat writers for each team, and their "human interest" stories are fantastic.

 

[NJHusky]

If you have the scratch, get a subscription. I can't say I even read it that frequently, but every single article is quality. They have beat writers for each team, and their "human interest" stories are fantastic.

Agree…but be careful on your renewal dates. I got some decent intro rate and then they hit me for 79 on the auto renewal. It’s worth 20/yr not 79 imo.