Arizona State's Bobby Hurley back on college basketball coaches on the hot seat lists

Earlier in his tenure as Arizona State's basketball coach, Bobby Hurley seemed to find his name on lists of college basketball coaches on the hot seat quite often, with his name showing up on 2020, 2021 and 2022 lists.

An NCAA Tournament First Four victory last season, followed by a narrow NCAA Tournament First Round loss quieted a lot of that talk, as did a 4-0 start to the Pac-12 Conference season this year.

But the Sun Devils are now 5-6 overall in Pac-12 play, having gone just 1-6 since that impressive start. ASU is also now 11-11 overall.

With the team's struggles, talk of Hurley potentially being on the hot seat has returned.

Hurley is now 152-124 in nine seasons in Tempe. He is 76-82 in Pac-12 games.

More: Shawn Phillips excels but Arizona State men fall to Cal for fourth straight Pac-12 setback

Arizona State basketball coach Bobby Hurley on 'hot seat' lists

BetMGM recently took a look at "High-Major Coaches on the Hot Seat" in men's college basketball and included Hurley.

Andrew Doughty wrote: "Bobby Hurley was always geographically incompatible with Arizona State. Who knew he’d be competitively incompatible, too. Through four seasons, Hurley’s (slow) rebuild appeared destined for annual Pac-12 title contention and NCAA Tournament berths. But since 23 wins (12-6 in the Pac-12) and a second consecutive tourney berth in 2019, the Sun Devils have inspired little long-term confidence. Losses against San Diego and Mississippi State — and an ugly win over Texas Southern — were signs this year won’t be different. Back-to-back Pac-12 losses to Washington and UCLA confirmed that."

Bleacher Report also had Hurley on a list of coaches potentially on the hot seat listing the ASU coach among the "Honorable" mentions.

Kerry Miller wrote: "It's hard to believe this is year No. 9 in Tempe for Hurley. Wasn't he just coaching at Buffalo like two years ago? In those first eight years with the Sun Devils, though, Hurley has three NCAA tournament appearances, all as one of the "Last Four In" and none resulting in a trip to the Round of 32. A narrow miss this year might be enough to save his job, but anything close to a .500 record might be the end."

More: Pac-12 Network goes dark early as Arizona vs. California basketball broadcast goes off air

Is ASU basketball coach Bobby Hurley really on the hot seat again?

Interestingly, BetMGM already listed St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett as a potential replacement for Hurley in Tempe, if ASU were to make a change at head coach.

Unless this season really goes off the rails, however, it's hard for us to see ASU making a move at head coach, especially since the Sun Devils are still searching for a new athletic director after the resignation of Ray Anderson.

The athletic department isn't exactly swimming in money right now, and it would be hard to justify paying Hurley's buyout and a new head coach.

But, the new AD might really want to bring in his own men's basketball coach to put an early stamp on the program after his hire.

Do you think Bobby Hurley is on the hot seat as the ASU Sun Devils' men's basketball coach?

Pac-12 basketball odds: Arizona Wildcats favored to win regular season conference title

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: College basketball coaches on the hot seat: ASU's Bobby Hurley on list