It has now been several days since Dan Hurley turned down a generous offer by the Los Angeles Lakers to be their head coach and decided to stay at the University of Connecticut. Many are still talking about and analyzing why he said no to them, and there are plenty of theories.
Plenty think the Lakers simply didn’t offer him enough money, and that their reported offer of $70 million over six years just wasn’t a competitive one. A few think Hurley was simply using the Purple and Gold as leverage to get more money from UConn in order to remain put.
But on an episode of the “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” he said he was intrigued by the opportunity to coach the Lakers and work with LeBron James. He said it would’ve been a “thrill” to coach the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and he talked about coaching against James’ high school team (h/t Lakers Daily).
“It’s been wild…it would’ve been a thrill to coach him.”
– Dan Hurley shares what the last few weeks have been like for him as well as reveals that he and Lebron never actually spoke during this process.
📺 https://t.co/QWMagwuZcy pic.twitter.com/6z5Y75LnG2
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) June 13, 2024
“I did not,” Hurley said when asked if he talked to James during the process of being courted by the Lakers. “We had some communication. One of my first games I ever coached in as a high school coach was against LeBron in Delaware when he was at St. Mary-St. Vincent. His team came into that game with a 66-game winning streak. And we were – it was my first year as a head coach. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. When the game ended, he had a 67-game winning streak. And so, I shared the court with him once. And it was, it would’ve been a thrill to coach him.”
Hurley started his head coaching career in 2001 at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in his native New Jersey. One consideration for him, and a possible factor in him rejecting the Lakers, was the prospect of having to relocate from the Northeast, where he has spent his whole life, to Southern California.
Plenty of New York/New Jersey natives do eventually move out to the Southland, but it is a major adjustment to make, especially once someone has reached his or her 50s. When one also has something amazing going, as Hurley does with the Huskies, one could ultimately say no to an even greater opportunity out West, even one that involves working with the seemingly ageless James.