Dan Hurley has said no to the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley turned down the Lakers' offer to be their next head coach and will stay put at the University of Connecticut, CBS Sports' Matt Norlander reported Monday afternoon. Hurley, who has won back-to-back national championships at UConn, turned down a six-year, $70 million offer from one of the NBA's marquee franchises, per ESPN.
With Hurley off of the table, the Lakers will likely turn their attention back toward the two coaches that have thus far featured most prominently in their search: ESPN broadcaster JJ Redick and New Orleans Pelicans assistant James Borrego. Prior to the reporting on Hurley, Redick had reportedly been the frontrunner for the Lakers job, with the team viewing him as a "Pat Riley-like coaching prospect." He currently hosts a podcast with Lakers star LeBron James called Mind the Game.
As successful as Hurley has been at the college level, coaches making that jump have generally struggled in the NBA. In the past 30 years, eleven college coaches have made the jump from the NCAA to the NBA without prior NBA head-coaching experience, and those coaches have a combined record of 1,483-1,797, according to CBS Sports research.
While some coaches have experienced degrees of success, like Brad Stevens and Billy Donovan, the only coach to win a championship at both the NBA and collegiate level is Larry Brown, who won it all with Kansas in 1988 and the Detroit Pistons in 2004.
While Hurley will not be joining the Lakers at this time, he has in the past openly said that he would consider NBA opportunities "down the road." In an April appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, he cited "burnout" as the thing that could push him out of the college game. He added that the NBA would appeal to him "if I could grow up a little bit, mature a bit with emotions." If Hurley maintains this degree of success at UConn, other job opportunities at the NBA level will surely arise.
For what it's worth, James appears to be a fan of Hurley. He posted on social media in April that Hurley is a "damn good" coach.
He’s so DAMN GOOD!!! Along with his staff. Super creative with their O! Love it
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 19, 2024
But after an aggressive courtship, he will not reportedly land with the purple and gold. The Lakers are looking for their seventh coach since Phil Jackson retired in 2011. In Hurley, they saw someone who could feasibly succeed Jackson and Riley as long-term fixtures atop their organization. They are still looking for that kind of coach, but it will not be the one currently sitting atop the collegiate world.
