Hobbled Dan Hurley says he’s coaching UConn men’s basketball team as hard as ever
STORRS –- UConn head coach Dan Hurley hobbled across the court after practice Thursday on his way to meet with the media contingent. His wife, Andrea, was back in New Jersey Wednesday night and he fell asleep on the couch.
“I woke up (Thursday) and then it just unraveled from there because I pushed it, I pushed it hard,” he said. “Maybe partially I’m breaking down because we’re pushing so hard. This is probably the hardest I’ve coached a team in really almost any season.”
But as hard as Hurley is pushing his players, he’s also pushing himself, and he’s feeling it as much as they are. The team posted a series of photos on Sunday of Hurley laying down in the facility, exhausted. The third photo showed his son, Andrew, carrying him out of the door.
On the sideline was a new set of cardboard trophies, like what the team carted around most of last year, moving from one goal to the next until the national championship poster was thrown to the side in place of the real thing. There were five on display Thursday: the Big East regular season, the Big East-Big 12 Battle (against preseason No. 1 Kansas), the Jimmy V Classic (against North Carolina), the Seattle Tip-Off (against Gonzaga) and the Empire Classic.
Those poster boards take a beating, too. When Hurley feels the team isn’t playing at the level where it could get the actual trophy, he’ll fire his shoe at it, sometimes a ball. If he’s really mad he’ll kick it down. The one for the Big East regular season is already experiencing some wear and tear around the corners.
“This time of year we’re fully in the ‘We Season’ here and it’s about winning championships and it’s about winning, period, but those are our targets there,” Hurley said. “We’ve got multiple chances to win trophies and we want to win as many as we can because that’s what our program is all about.
“It almost rivals a little bit of Year One here, Year One in other places, where you’re just so hyper vigilant about complacency or any cracks in any techniques,” he said. “I’ve coached these guys, and the staff has coached these guys, really, really hard in the preseason.”
Known for his hyper competitive nature, UConn’s sixth-year coach has made his main goal clear: He wants to become one of the few programs in the history of the sport to win back-to-back national championships – that trophy hasn’t been placed on its easel yet because the team has to get through the others first.
They’ll have to do it this year with a trio of returning starters (who Hurley said he “got on” Thursday for the way they dealt with mistakes), one veteran transfer in Cam Spencer and a handful of freshmen and returning bench players that he expects to make an impact.
“(The freshmen) haven’t blinked through all of the hard practices,” Hurley said. “This is a different type of environment, people come in and watch our practices whether they’re media people or NBA people and this is a different level of pace, tempo, accountability, competitive nature. You keep just kind of preaching to them that if you can handle this type of pressure that we’re applying to you in these practices, you will be able to transition to game night and be able to help us.”
Jayden Ross, a freshman forward, said Hurley not only knows when to push the team “really hard,” but he knows also knows when to take a step back and instill some confidence. Hurley was surprised by the latter part of the answer, saying he hasn’t gotten to the “building up” part yet.
The more he’s coached, Hurley has been learning where, and when, to expend his energy. Now, with a national championship banner over his head, his tough love has been validated.
“I think we’ve identified the way that we want to play, I think we’ve evolved and improved as a coaching staff, I’ve improved as a coach. I think the things that I’m fighting about with them are things that are gonna impact winning and the quality of the team and it’s about execution, it’s about behavior, it’s about attitude, IQ, togetherness – there’s so many things that go on with a group,” he said. “I’m probably not as petty and I don’t really look to pick the fight just to cause a reaction now, I’m really just trying to root out the things that I know are gonna make us lose.”
