What Dan Hurley’s return to UConn means for Gonzaga and college basketball

One of the sport’s brightest minds chose to pursue college basketball glory over a chance to run the NBA’s glitziest brand

Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY

Dan Hurley sent shockwaves across the basketball world Monday, as the two-time national championship coach declined an offer to be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and instead opted to return to the UConn Huskies in pursuit of a third consecutive NCAA title.

Hurley’s decision to turn down a six-year, $70 million offer comes after the Lakers put the 51-year-old at the forefront of their head coaching search for the past weeks. Hurley even met with vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss in LA last Friday, just a few days before the Huskies were set to meet as a team in Storrs, Connecticut, on Monday. To say the weekend was a stressful one for UConn fans would likely be an understatement. 

As the Huskies fanbase takes a collective sigh of relief, Hurley’s return to college basketball has major implications on the state of the sport, the NBA and the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

UCONN WILL CONTINUE TO BE A TITLE CONTENDER

The Huskies have been the most well-oiled machine in college basketball over the past two seasons, and that’s not likely going to change in the near future. 

In addition to turning down the Lakers’ offer, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Hurley has already received an offer from UConn that would make him one of the highest-paid NCAA coaches. Hurley had signed a six-year, $32.1 million deal to be the men’s basketball coach after the 2022-23 season. That’s considerably less than what he would’ve made annually with the Lakers, though it appears the Huskies are willing to give Hurley a raise following their second-straight national championship.

UConn is 141-58 over the past six seasons under Hurley, including 68-11 over the past two championship seasons. The Huskies won their last 12 NCAA Tournament games by double-digit margins and set a tournament record for point differential this past season (140). They ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll seven times and never dropped below their No. 6 ranking in the preseason poll.

Part of UConn’s success under Hurley is due to his ability to navigate the ever-so-changing landscape of college athletics. The Huskies’ 2023 title team featured just 34.4% of the minutes played from the season prior. In 2024, Hurley cut down the nets again despite losing Adama Sanogo, the 2023 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, as well as Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson to the NBA.

This time around, UConn lost two potential lottery picks in Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, in addition to All-American guard Tristen Newton. Despite the departures, the Huskies are projected to be a top-10 preseason team after bringing in two-time All-WCC guard Aidan Mahaney and top-10 recruit Liam McNeely to join forces with returners Alex Karaban, Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL WINS, NBA LOSES

Hurley’s decision says a lot about the state of the Lakers franchise given the amount of uncertainty and change the average head coach experiences in this new era of college athletics.

Hurley has made his displeasure with the transfer portal public, as he posted a photo of himself lying on the floor of his office with the caption “Day 1 in the portal” on April 12. On an episode of the Dan Patrick Show, Hurley cited “burnout” as the reason he would leave the college game. Hurley’s given hints at being interested in taking an NBA job one day, though he did just turn down an offer from the sport’s biggest brand and a chance to coach the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in LeBron James.

Also consider though, the Lakers are searching for their seventh head coach since 2011. Since the Phil Jackson era ended, no head coach has lasted more than three seasons. There’s pressure to succeed immediately, and oftentimes falling just short of the ultimate goal is enough for LA’s brass to move on to the next coach rather swiftly.

With James sitting at 40 years old, there’s plenty of uncertainty over the Lakers’ future. The team is well over the salary cap heading into the 2024-25 season and doesn’t have an outstanding amount of draft capital in the coming years. As long as James is playing, there isn’t much wiggle room to improve the current roster.

Coaches who move on from the college game to the NBA don’t have the greatest track record either. In the past 30 years, 11 college coaches have made the jump to the NBA without any prior NBA head coaching experience — their combined record is 1,483-1,797 (.452 winning percentage), according to CBS Sports research. Some coaches, like Brad Stevens and Billy Donovan, have had varying levels of success at the pro level.

Rather than deal with the pressures of the NBA, Hurley has a chance to make history as the first head coach to win three straight national championships since John Wooden in the 1970s. Not to mention his grand reactions and intensity on the sideline breathe life into a sport that has seen many of its iconic coaches leave the game in recent years: Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Jay Wright and Jim Boeheim have stepped away from their roles in the wake of NIL legislation and the transfer portal.

GONZAGA AND OTHER CONTENDERS ARE ON NOTICE

The Zags, who face UConn on Dec. 14 at Madison Square Garden next season, as well as the rest of the notable contenders across the country, can expect the Huskies to pose quite a roadblock in the NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga has fallen to UConn in each of the past two seasons: a 28-point defeat in the Elite Eight round of the 2023 tournament, followed by a 13-point loss in Seattle this past December. In both of those games, the Bulldogs shot worse than 40% from the field and went a combined 4-for-32 from 3-point range. 

Next season’s matchup will look mostly the same on Gonzaga’s end, as Mark Few returned seven of his top eight scorers from last season’s Sweet 16 team. Some are ready to deem the Bulldogs as a Final Four-caliber team after they brought in Pepperdine transfer Michael Ajayi, Arkansas grad transfer Khalif Battle and Tarleton State transfer Emmanuel Innocenti to join forces with the returning group.

Capitalizing on an opportunity to take down the back-to-back national champions on what is essentially their second homecourt would count for something toward Gonzaga’s goal of claiming its first national championship. The December matchup at MSG could be a top-10 showdown based on early preseason rankings and polls.