Connecticut College for Men basketballCoach Dan Hurley said his wife Andrea became violently angry when he approached her about becoming the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, a reaction the coach somewhat predicted after the Huskies won back-to-back national championships. .
After defeating Purdue in the title game in April, Hurley immediately received questions about his future at UConn and whether there was any interest in him taking the coaching job. in kentucky after the departure of John Calipari.
Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies addresses the media after the College Basketball National Championship game against the Purdue Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium on April 8, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Hurley deferred to his wife on those questions, joking that he couldn't “afford a divorce right now.”
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“Oh my God, Kentucky or anywhere that gets her further away from New Jersey,” he said of his reaction to the rumors at the time. “I mean, we just went to Rhode Island, where I had to drag her, and then to Connecticut. I got her closer. And now closer? I can't afford a divorce right now. I can't afford a divorce either. I just started earning money. “.
However, the Hurleys had not anticipated that an NBA job would be in the cards just a few months later, when the Lakers He left behind Darvin Ham, who was fired after his second season with the team, resulting in Los Angeles' loss in the first round of the playoffs this year.
During an appearance in “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” Hurley said his wife didn't take the news well, at least at first.
Andrea Hurley listens during a press conference after Dan Hurley was introduced as Connecticut's head coach in March 2018. (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“She was crying at first. I think initially, the first few days, she got violently angry and emotional, not like she hit me and stuff, not like 'Get away from me. I don't want to consider this.' You're torturing me with this unbelievable opportunity, horrible human being,” he said, laughing.
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“She got emotional and said, 'I can't believe you bring this. Our life is so great. It's perfect. Our lives couldn't be better and now you're bringing this s—.'”
However, a quick trip to California apparently left a good impression on Andrea.
“She was mean at first, but then she adjusted when we dated and she met [vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka] and she met [owner Jeanie Buss] and I felt the weather. We drove around Manhattan Beach and met the people, mostly though. And she saw the vision of it. She liked it”.
However, Hurley said it was short-lived and the couple “returned” to UConn when they returned home.
UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley, left, walks with his son, guard Andrew Hurley, #20, along with his wife Andrea during senior day before the start of the game against the Seton Hall Pirates in the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on March 3, 2024. . (David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports)
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He reportedly turned down a lucrative offer, a six-year, $70 million contract, and it was a decision that he says “tears you up inside.” Part of the struggle, Hurley explained, was internal: wanting to prove himself all these years later.
“I still am tormented by my playing career in many ways in terms of how disappointed I am to this day with how I did at Seton Hall. “So I feel this enormous pressure as a coach to somehow make up for that and achieve more because of the disappointment that will eat away at me every time my playing days are brought up.”
Hurley and the Huskies are looking for more this season. They are chasing a third in a row National Championship with the Huskies, a feat only accomplished by the UCLA Bruins in the 1960s and again in the early 1970s.
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