University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley’s wife Andrea said meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers in June felt like “cheating.”
“It felt yucky because we have — it’s like you’re cheating on your family, you know?” Andrea Hurley said of the visit. “… It felt wrong, but felt so right.”
Earlier this offseason, Andrea Hurley also admitted that she had an unsettling thought every time she looked into the face of Lakers owner Jeanie Buss during Los Angeles’ recruiting pitch.
“They sent their plane,” Andrea Hurley told WFSB. “They — literally attention to detail, they made us feel welcomed and they wanted to be a part of our family, and they wanted us a part of their family. And it was just so sincere and the way that they were talking to us, it was — I sat there, and all I did was cry, of course. And actually why I was there — I just — as I was looking — every time I looked at the owner’s face, I saw another one of our players.
“And I was just like, ‘No, this is amazing, but we have our kids at home. How do we leave kids that just won back-to-back championships? How about all these new babies that are coming in that could have went anywhere, and they chose to come here to play for Danny?’”
Ultimately, Dan Hurley turned down Los Angeles’ six-year, $70 million offer and instead agreed to a new six-year, $50 million contract to remain the head coach at UConn.
The Lakers then went on to sign J.J. Redick to become the 29th head coach in the history of the storied franchise.
When taking into consideration all the success that Dan Hurley has experienced leading the Huskies in recent years, it shouldn’t be considered a major shock that he opted to remain coaching at that level.
Under Dan Hurley, UConn has won each of the last two national titles. With their most recent title, the Huskies became the first men’s team to repeat as champions since the University of Florida did so back in the 2000s, when big man Al Horford was on the roster.
It goes without saying that Dan Hurley’s Huskies are coming off an incredibly successful 2023-24 campaign. The team lost only three of its 40 games (postseason included). Plus, UConn won all six of its NCAA Tournament games by 14 points or more.
While the 2024-25 college basketball season has yet to commence, it appears that Dan Hurley has a better chance of winning a title with the Huskies than he would have had he joined the Lakers, at least on paper.
After all, the Lakers’ stint in the 2024 NBA Playoffs was particularly brief. Los Angeles didn’t win a single playoff series, as the team was eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the opening round.
