Any college coach knows the rule when it comes to recruiting. If you have that 5 star on campus, you need to get the commitment before they leave. It's the “ABC” rule of Glengarry Glen Ross: always be closing. That's the rule. You MIGHT get them if they come home to think about it, but the odds are greatly reduced.
When UConn Huskies coach Dan Hurley left Los Angeles without agreeing to be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, it was telling. On Monday he told the world that he was going to repeat it in Storrs and try to do it three times.
I mentioned the parallels with Billy Donovan on Sunday. He won a couple of titles in a row in Gainesville and actually TOOK the Orlando Magic job. He then thought better of it and returned to Florida. He would eventually answer the NBA's siren song, and Hurley probably will too one day. He has said the same. But not now.
Whatever happens from now on, what Hurley has done in the last two years to forever alter his place in the sport is astonishing. This is a man who has spent most of his basketball life in the shadow of his father and his brother. Now he has grown up and they take a backseat to him.
Does that sound like hyperbole? Tell me something: How many coaches in the same offseason were able to tell Kentucky, with the bluest blood in college basketball and the Lakers, NBA royalty? Thanks for the interest, sincerely, but I'm ready. Hurley was able to leave both jobs within two months. If you had told me that would happen when he was fuming on the bench in Rhode Island, he would have interrupted you mercilessly.
Here we are. There it is, in Storrs. Still. There are few palm trees on the ground there, but there are plenty of trophies. They all won in the last quarter of a century and he wants more. There.
I admire high-achieving people who create comfort in the space they live in and who are not driven to be happier than happy. Only he knows how comfortable… only he knows how difficult it was to say no. From this moment on we will refer to what Hurley decided not to do. I bet he's dedicated to what he decided to continue doing: coaching UConn and preparing like a maniac to ensure the show goes on.
