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5 questions with UConn’s Dan Hurley

Dan Hurley has joined the elite of the elite. After leading UConn to a national title last spring in convincing fashion, the 50-year old head coach is craving more. I caught up with Hurley this week in Storrs to discuss how his life has changed since last season’s NCAA Tournament, Donovan Clingan, and much more.

Jon Rothstein: How has your life changed since winning a national title?

Dan Hurley: There’s just so many firsts. So many different things that you get to experience. Throwing out the first pitch at different baseball games. Getting the key to Jersey City — a place where I grew up. Visiting the White House. These are all things that you get to experience for the first time because of all the hard work that goes into winning a national title. But then when you get back to the court and to practice, the work in between the lines is probably even harder than it was before because the experience of winning a national title is something that you’re dying to feel again.

Rothstein: You’ve openly said that Billy Donovan has had a major impact on your career as a coach — he’s the last coach to lead a team to back-to-back national titles. Have you used him as a resource as you attempt to replicate what he did at Florida in 2006 and 2007?

Hurley: Yeah. I’ve used what he’s told me in the past. I’ve spoken to him a couple of times since we won it. He’s always been an idol of mine as a coach. He’s just given me great all-around advice — personal advice on how to handle it and the mistakes that he made in his career. Somebody can’t tell you how to win back-to-back national titles, but he’s obviously got great perspective.

Rothstein: One guy that’s back from last season’s team is Donovan Clingan. What do you envision in terms of his production next season now that he’s going to have a higher usage rate as a starter?

Hurley: You expect that he can average 14-plus points, double-figure rebounds, and close to three blocks in that 26-28 minute range. The positive development for Donovan is that Samson Johnson — just having another center that can give us that two-headed monster — and keep Donovan fresh late in a year where we really want to make a run. That’s not only going to help Donovan’s numbers, but also his performance later in the year.

Rothstein: You lost three starters — Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson, and Adama Sanogo — as well as a key reserve in Joey Calcaterra. Which of your newcomers do you think will immediately step in and assume those roles?

Hurley: Well, obviously Cam (Spencer) is a plug and play guy with Tristen (Newton) in the backcourt and with the youth that’s there. With Steph (Castle) and Solo (Ball) and Hassan (Diarra) there, we’ve got some depth at guard. Cam is a guy though that’s a two-way player and fits in seamlessly. He gives us a fourth guy in that starting rotation that can get 14-20 points in a game. To have four guys like that is big.

Rothstein: You’ve always said that no matter how hard you try you’re always going to be the second-best coach in your family because of your father and the second-best point guard in your family because of your brother. Since winning a national title, have you finally given yourself credit for the coach that you are?

Hurley: I love my journey in coaching. To experience everything that I’ve experienced as a player in my career and then the old-school nature of my coaching career — long-time high school coach, low-major, mid-major — and then to finally get a chance on this level, I just think my coaching career is more of an old-school career. I don’t know man. I think I always knew my quality, but there’s definitely a validation that comes with winning the whole thing that puts you into a different type of stratosphere in terms of the way that people view you. But I’ve always viewed myself as being a pretty high-level coach.

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