Lakers meeting with Dan Hurley, preparing ‘massive’ offer for UConn coach, per report

After leading UConn to back-to-back NCAA national championships, Dan Hurley has emerged as the Los Angeles Lakers’ top target in their coaching search, according to ESPN. CBS Sports’ Bill Reiter confirmed the Lakers’ interest and pursuit of Hurley. Los Angeles is preparing a “large long-term contract offer” for Hurley, according to ESPN, and has already had preliminary contact about the position.

Hurley told his UConn team on Thursday that he is in talks with the Lakers, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports confirmed. Hurley’s team and the Lakers will meet on Friday in California, ESPN adds.

The Lakers fired Darvin Ham in May after just two seasons, and JJ Redick – co-host of a podcast with Lakers star LeBron James, an ESPN broadcaster and longtime player first at Duke and then at NBA for almost two decades – was considered the favorite for the position. However, Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Hurley was targeted throughout the process. In ESPN:

Hurley has been at the forefront of the Lakers’ search since the beginning of the process, even as the organization did its due diligence by interviewing several other candidates, sources said.

Lakers Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka and Governor Jeanie Buss are eager to formally discuss with Hurley his vision for marrying his dominant program – based both on his tactical acumen and the development of elite players. – with the famous Lakers brand, sources said.

Hurley earlier this offseason turned down offers from the University of Kentucky, one of the top jobs in college basketball because of its history and resources, after the school and John Calipari went in different directions. He later said he had no desire to coach college basketball anywhere else before adding that trying your luck at NBA later in your career interests you. In an interview last year, he said he still had some “development to do on the sideline” before thinking about making the jump to the NBA, a reference to his sideline antics and emotional coaching tactics.

“There is no one coaching like me in the NBA”he said then. “They’re not ready… and I’m certainly not ready. [But] That’s something I aspire to in the future.”

After leading UConn to a national championship in 2023, Hurley signed a six-year, $32.1 million contract that placed him among the 10 highest-paid college coaches. Then Hurley, 51, led the Huskies to another championship this spring, becoming the first to come back since Billy Donovan did so with Florida in 2006 and 2007. Hurley and UConn are in talks with — but have not yet agreed on — a deserved new deal that would result in a salary increase for him and his coaching staff.

Hurley remade his roster once again this offseason to be a legitimate third-peat contender next year, with Alex Karaban, Hassan Diarra and Jaylin Stewart, among others, slated to return in 2024-25. The Huskies are ranked 5th in Gary Parrish’s latest Top 25 and 1 for next season and possess the second-best betting odds to win again next season, according to Bovada odds.

College athletics has been transformed in recent years with the emergence of the transfer portal and the implementation of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights for athletes, which has made college training more challenging than ever. Giants of the game like Nick Saban, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Jay Wright have all retired in recent years, and Hurley is unafraid of the difficulties of thriving in this new era, with frequent tweets about the challenges of diving into – and generally dealing with – the portal and everything that comes with it.

If he leaves UConn, he would be the second 2024 national championship-winning coach to jump to the pros and migrate to Los Angeles, joining Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, who left his alma mater to become head coach of Los Angeles NFL Chargers.