Dan Hurley told Kentucky 'very early on' he had no interest in coaching job
Kentucky was interested in hiring UConn coach Dan Hurley to be its next head coach, but the back-to-back national champion never considered leaving for the Wildcats.
Dan Hurley spoke with Dan Dakich on Friday about being pursued by Kentucky and if he ever considered taking the job.
Dakich asked in particular how much Kentucky offered, which got a big laugh out of Hurley.
“It never became a thing. Ever. Like whatsoever,” Hurley said.
Hurley was asked directly about the opening several different times but never publicly stated he wasn’t 100 percent leaving.
As it turns out, there was a reason for that. His agent instructed him to avoid speaking in absolutes so that Hurley could maintain some leverage during contract negotiations with UConn.
“Obviously your agent tells you… because when you have the success we’ve had the last two years, obviously here at UConn, you want your staff to be rewarded,” Dan Hurley explained. “You want the university to double down on the investment so we can stay at the top of the mountain. So your agent tells you with the media, ‘Try not to say no, without saying no.’ Be evasive as possible so you don’t hurt his ability to get the things that he needs at UConn, to just be totally honest.'”
While Hurley might not have publicly declared emphatically that he wasn’t going to Kentucky, he did make it clear to Mitch Barnhart and the Wildcats.
“I told them very early on, I have no interest. My wife, my family, we have no interest,” Hurley said. “Why would you leave the current best program in the country to go somewhere else?”
It’s hard to argue that UConn doesn’t have the best program in the country right now, after all, the Huskies have won back-to-back national titles without getting seriously tested.
With Hurley not an option, Kentucky ended up hiring Mark Pope from BYU to lead its program.
Pope was a captain on Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team. He has a 187-108 record as a head coach while leading the BYU and Utah Valley programs.
“Mark Pope not only brings an impressive record in nine years as a head coach, but also a love of the University of Kentucky and a complete understanding of what our program means to the people of our state,” Barnhart said in a statement. “As a captain on the ‘96 championship team, Mark was a beloved and respected teammate. As a head coach, he is highly regarded nationally as an innovator. His teams run a unique and dynamic up-tempo offense and they get after it on defense. He is a strong recruiter with international ties and a person of integrity.
“He fully embraces our high expectations and standards and I know that as our fans get reacquainted with Mark, they will be eager to join him on what promises to be an exciting ride.”