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Arizona State fans tired of Bobby Hurley's 'embarrassing' behavior

Hurley missed a great opportunity to show leadership after Arizona State's loss to rival Arizona

Ben Sherman

Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley reacts to a call during a Big 12 men's basketball game against the Arizona Wildcats at Desert Financial Arena.
Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley reacts to a call during a Big 12 men's basketball game against the Arizona Wildcats at Desert Financial Arena. / Cheryl Evans/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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It has been a tale of two seasons for the Arizona State men's basketball team.

And the conference season is not going well.

After a promising 9-2 start to the year, Bobby Hurley's team is 3-7 at the midway point of their Big 12 Conference schedule.

And while the Sun Devils' struggles are somewhat understandable based on roster depth and injuries, it's Hurley's behavior that is starting to wear thin on Arizona State fans.

Tommy Lloyd Makes Hurley Look Bad

The Sun Devils played well for long stretches in Saturday's 81-72 home loss to rival Arizona. They had chances to win the game. But when it all unraveled, so did their coach.

After BJ Freeman was ejected for headbutting Arizona guard Caleb Love with 30 seconds left in the game, Hurley pulled his team off the floor with 0.5 seconds left and refused to shake hands with Arizona's players and coaching staff.

After the game, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd took the high road and said Hurley's actions were understandable.

"That could be a good decision. If things got chippy, you know what I mean, that could be a good decision," Lloyd said. "I'm not going to question their decision to do that. I'm not going to hold it against anybody. We obviously didn't want anything else to escalate and I totally understand why that was done."

Hurley, however, took a different approach in his postgame press conference. He criticized the officials, said Arizona won with "no class" and took shots at Love. As a leader of young men, it was a great opportunity for Hurley to take Lloyd's cue and praise Arizona's effort. Take the high road.

Hurley missed that opportunity.

"If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the Arizona players, that was not being policed properly," Hurley said after the game. "Of course they're going to be happy with winning, but It was done with no class in my opinion."

"Words that were said back and forth led to the moment where Freeman lost it, lost his cool because of the constant talk that was allowed go on. I had to make a tough decision to, in the best interest of our team, to get them into the locker room so there would be no further incidents the rest of the game. And in the handshake line."

Hurley Crosses A Line

The players talk all game, every game. This is nothing new. As Lloyd said, "I think these games are going to be high emotion games." As a coach, you understand the emotion that goes into every game, but especially a rivalry game. And it's your job to keep your wits about you and set an example for your team.

Instead, Hurley decided to go after an opposing player with his final postgame comments.

"I can tell you this: I do get a vote for all-conference and I can tell you who's not getting a vote," Hurley said at the very end of his press conference. As he stood up and walked out of the room he said "if you can read into that, I'm sure you might know who I'm thinking of right now."

It's an unwritten rule that a coach should never publicly speak poorly of an opposing team's player. Not only did Hurley break that rule, but he also said he wouldn't vote for that player to be all-conference. That's literally the definition of "taking your ball and going home."

It's embarrassing behavior. And Arizona State fans are tired of it.

Dillingham Sets Great Example

After Arizona State's heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Texas in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, 34-year-old ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham made sure his players shook hands with the Longhorns.

It was as emotional of a loss as you can imagine. Some coaches might understand why players would just want to leave the field.

But not Dillingham. He tracked down all of his players and walked them through the handshake line. That moment stands in stark contrast to what happened on Saturday at Desert Financial Arena.

"You lost the game. That doesn't mean you just get to leave,"Dillingham said in his postgame press conference. "Like, you shake hands. That's what you do. That's sportsmanship."

That's leadership.

Arizona State Fans Are Not Happy

Here's a sampling of how Arizona State fans are reacting to Hurley's behavior after the loss to Arizona:

More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis

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Ben Sherman
BEN SHERMAN

Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.

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