UConn males’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley turned down a profitable six-year contract supply from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Hurley broke his silence Thursday and made it clear he didn’t reject the Lakers’ supply to realize leverage along with his present employer.
The 2-time nationwide championship-winning coach mentioned he had already agreed to the phrases of a brand new take care of UConn earlier than he declined the Lakers’ supply.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley shouts to his staff throughout the males’s NCAA nationwide championship sport towards the Purdue Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium in Glendale April 8, 2024. (Joe Rondone/The Republic/USA As we speak Community)
“One of many worst takes I’ve heard is that this can be a leverage play by me to enhance my state of affairs at UConn,” the Huskies coach mentioned throughout a current look on “The Dan Le Batard Present with Stugotz.”
“I do not want leverage right here. We have gained back-to-back nationwide championships at this place. This was by no means a leverage state of affairs for me.
CELTICS SURVIVE MAVERICKS’ VALIANT COMEBACK ATTEMPT, TAKE COMMANDING 3-0 NBA FINALS LEAD
“I’ve had a contract in place right here for a few weeks. And the ultimate half, when it comes to wage, has been performed for some time. There are another components, like NIL and employees wage and a few various things, that I need adjusted and I am not comfy with. However the sense of the concept that this was some conspiracy to get me a sweeter deal at UConn is simply, it is lazy.”
Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies indicators to his gamers throughout the nationwide championship sport towards the Purdue Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium April 8, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Photographs)
UConn has but to announce a brand new deal for Hurley. He coached final season on a six-year, $32.1 million deal. Kansas males’s basketball coach Invoice Self is the highest-paid school coach.
Hurley did journey to Los Angeles to satisfy with Lakers normal supervisor Rob Pelinka and staff proprietor Jeanie Buss. Whereas Hurley didn’t meet with LeBron James, he did interact in a textual content alternate with the four-time NBA champion.
“We had some textual content messages … an unimaginable message from [James] over the course of the weekend. Simply speaking about basketball and a few various things and letting me know that if he was there in LA that I might have his help,” Hurley informed Fox Sports activities’ Colin Cowherd throughout Thursday’s version of “The Herd.”
Hurley mentioned it was not straightforward deciding between teaching in Los Angeles and staying put in Connecticut to pursue a 3rd straight nationwide championship.
“It was a gut-wrenching determination for me,” he mentioned. “Sunday night time, going into Monday, the place I type of had a deadline in my thoughts, I used to be torn, and I didn’t know actually what I used to be going to do till I went to mattress.”
Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies reacts within the first half towards the Purdue Boilermakers throughout the NCAA nationwide championship sport at State Farm Stadium April 8, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (Christian Petersen/Getty Photographs)
Hurley did admit the Lakers would have needed to make him a proposal he couldn’t have refused for him to go away UConn.
“To depart, there in all probability is [a number],” he mentioned. “To depart a spot at any second in your life, to say that it isn’t a motivating issue … the funds to go away a spot is certainly a factor. To remain at a spot, I do not assume it’s ever going to be a factor. To remain someplace like UConn, it might by no means have been a monetary factor.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Hurley reiterated that he was not entertaining the Lakers as some type of “strain tactic” and that he was already on account of turn into the highest-paid school basketball coach.
“This wasn’t like some strain tactic to make me the highest-paid school coach. That was already performed. However to go away a spot that you simply really feel the best way we do and the household reference to my spouse, my sons, my mother-in-law, my father. … I understand how a lot it means to my dad to go to the Massive East match and are available to 10 UConn video games a 12 months at dwelling, sitting courtside after I’m teaching towards Rick Pitino. To depart all of that behind, there in all probability is a quantity.”
Observe Fox Information Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox Information Sports activities Huddle publication.
