When footage of UConn coach Dan Hurley attending a Billy Joel concert inside Madison Square Garden surfaced last June amid his flirtation with the Los Angeles Lakers, it brought widespread reassurance to UConn fans. Though Hurley had yet to announce his decision to remain with the Huskies, many took his presence in New York as an omen that he’d be staying put in the Northeast, where he’s spent his entire life.
This time around, UConn fans will be hoping there is no footage surfacing of Hurley inside The World’s Most Famous Arena.
Amid the New York Knicks’ firing of coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday, Hurley’s name is already garnering attention as a name to watch for a franchise that is coming off its first Eastern Conference finals trip since 2000.
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A year ago, chasing the NBA dream would have required Hurley to uproot his life, move across the country and sacrifice the pursuit of a three-peat. This time around, if the Knicks came calling, Hurley would be considering a similarly prestigious job based in the metropolitan area that incubated his basketball odyssey.
Hurley grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, and starred under his father — the legendary Bob Hurley Sr. — at St. Anthony High School just five miles across the Hudson River from Madison Square Garden. Every coaching job he held from 1996 through 2012 was either in New York or New Jersey, and he’s spent all the time since coaching no more than 150 miles from Manhattan.
As it was stated in this 2012 article, “Dan Hurley has been a Knicks fan his entire life.” So, after seven seasons at UConn and 15 as a Division 1 head coach, would Hurley make the jump to the Knicks?
Seeing how close he came to accepting the Lakers job this time last year, the answer seems…
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