UConn men's coach Dan Hurley shakes off airplane problems, says he won't use as an excuse
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Several hours removed from the cross-country trip that turned into a 12-plus hour ordeal, UConn coach Dan Hurley chose grace.
“I think what goes through your mind once you’re done kind of complaining and cursing and muttering, you just start saying to yourself, you don’t really deserve to show entitlement,” he said Friday. “Such an honor to get a chance, once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in a Final Four, coach in a Final Four.
"Once that kind of edge wore off, lucky to be here. We’re lucky to get an opportunity to come play in the Final Four. And who doesn’t deal with problems with the airlines?”
That doesn’t mean it was a lot of fun.
The condensed version of the story is as follows: UConn was supposed to fly to Phoenix after practice on Wednesday evening, arriving close to their regular bedtime. But the plane that was picking up UConn ran into mechanical delays, the crew flying the plane exceeded its federally regulated hours limit and the NCAA had to scramble for backup transportation options.
Oh, and the weather was terrible in the Northeast on Wednesday, making things even more complicated.
In the end, a new plane was brought in and UConn’s flight took off just after 1:30 a.m. ET. It landed in Phoenix just after 3 a.m. local time, and Hurley thanked the Final Four welcoming committee and NCAA senior vice president of basketball, Dan Gavitt, for being on the ground to greet their arrival.
“To stay out there for us really made it special,” he said.
“I ruminated a lot,” he said, describing the hours of uncertainty on the ground. “I spiraled. I had my head in my hands a lot. It was a real mindful excursive from 11:30 to like 1:45 on the tarmac. It was therapeutic to watch the de-icing out the window. That was probably the best part of it.”
Though UConn took part in a slightly pared-down practice Thursday afternoon, players were excused from their scheduled media availability due to the travel snafu and late arrival. Hurley, who said he slept two hours on the plane and another two at the hotel, had taken it in good humor by the time his press conference rolled around.
Nate Oats, the Alabama coach who worked under Dan Hurley’s brother Bobby as an assistant at Buffalo and knows the family well, also had some fun with the situation and noted that he had gotten in a good, solid night of sleep on Wednesday.
“Not quite sure what happened with the plane,” Oats said. “Wasn’t me. I didn’t send anybody over there to mess with the mechanics. I’m sure he’s conjured that up in his head already.”
Throughout this tournament, Hurley has been looking for anything he can reasonably interpret as disrespect to use as motivation for his team, which has won its four games by an average of 30.3 points as it tries to repeat as national champions. The airplane issues could have easily fit within that same category of invented outrage, but Hurley backed off that tactic, saying it’s not necessary at this stage.
“With what Alabama has shown, this will be the best offense we’ve guarded this year,” he said. “If we’re not on our identity, we’re vulnerable like everybody else.”
And as far as setting up a potential excuse if UConn doesn’t play its A-game Saturday? Hurley isn’t going there, noting that players are used to 14-hour road trips from their AAU basketball and playing two hours later.
“I mean, (expletive), I was driving a minibus to prep school games not too long ago,” said Hurley, who coached St. Benedict’s Prep from 2001 to 2010. “We’re in the Final Four here, man, with a chance to advance, to repeat as national champions, make history. We’re way past that (expletive).”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dan Hurley shakes off UConn's airplane problems, won't use as excuse
