Dan Hurley is the talk of the basketball world right now. After another dominant tournament run that ended in back-to-back championships for UConn, he’s quickly entered the top tier of basketball coaches. With all the success, people are beginning to wonder about his future. Is his future with Connecticut, or is there another job he’ll take?
This talk was amplified when John Calipari left Kentucky to become the new Arkansas head coach. As soon as Kentucky opened up, many people imminently said Hurley would be the perfect fit for that job. They were saying that going to Kentucky would be a step up in his career. Sure, Kentucky has already filled the job, but still, this is going to be something that appears throughout his tenure. However, Hurley would be making a major mistake if he were to leave UConn.
UConn Is The Best Job In College Basketball
Earlier this month I wrote about how UConn has officially become a Blue Blood. Over the past 25 years, no other program has been anywhere close to the same level as UConn. Many people consider it hard to win one national championship. However, UConn has made it look easy winning six over those 25 years. The only program that has a more impressive stretch of dominance is UCLA in the 60s-70s. With this level of dominance, why would you want to leave?
Just as an exercise, let’s compare Kentucky to UConn. When compared UConn has a much more appealing job. For starters in these 25 years of dominance for UConn, Kentucky has only won the national championship once. They have also only been to the Final Four four times, while UConn has gone seven times. Essentially UConn is this up-and-coming program, while Kentucky is only relevant because of its name and history. They don’t have the recent success to back it up.
It’s not just Kentucky, if you were to go down the list there isn’t a single blue blood that would that could be considered a step up. From a name perspective maybe, but if you’re gonna base it on winning and success, no one can hold a candle to UConn.
Hurley: The Builder of the UConn Dynasty
When looking for the reason for UConn’s dominance, look no further than Hurley. Think back to where UConn was when they hired Hurley. They had just fired Kevin Ollie, the coach of the 2014 national championship team. The team was just coming off a disappointing 14-18 season and a first-round exit in the AAC tournament. Speaking of the AAC, many fans hated the fact they were in that conference and longed for the days of the old Big East. Not a lot to be excited about for UConn basketball.
However, in only six seasons, Hurley has turned the program around, going from one of the worst to the undisputed best team in college basketball. Some of the other issues were also solved during Hurley’s tenure, like leaving the AAC and joining the new Big East. In the process, they reunited with old rivals like Georgetown and Villanova. Everything just started working for the program, and they’re now set up to do something unprecedented.
One of the biggest jokes filing around the college basketball world is that we should just give UConn the 2025 championship now. Now although this is meant as a joke, there is some truth to it. Because when you look around the college basketball world, is there any program on the same level as UConn? No one would be surprised if in a year we’re sitting here talking about a UConn three-peat and where they rank in terms of all-college basketball dynasty. Hurley has the chance to not only build but oversee a dynasty and a level of excellence never before seen in Men’s college basketball.
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Credit for my feature image goes to Jamie Squire. You can find more college basketball content at Belly Up Sports and follow me on Twitter/X.
