Dribble Handoff: Dan Hurley, Nate Oats among college basketball coaches in line to make jump to NBA

UConn coach Dan Hurley’s flirtation with the Los Angeles Lakers it’s over, putting an end to a dramatic saga that threatened take a college basketball coaching giant to the NBA. Since Larry Brown left Kansas for the San Antonio Spurs in 1988, the coach of the defending national champions hasn’t left for an NBA job.

But many other college basketball coaches have been drawn to the NBA since then. The most recent was John Beilein, who spent less than a year with the Cleveland Cavaliers after a great season at Michigan. Others, like Brad Stevens, have done this and been successful.

However, recent history shows the transition from college basketball to the NBA it’s not easy. Take Billy Donovan, for example. He won back-to-back national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2007. But in nine years as an NBA coach, he has gone deeper than the first round of the playoffs only once. And Donovan’s stint in the NBA was actually more successful than the professional attempts made by peers like Beilein and Fred Hoiberg.

Despite the mixed track record of the influx of college coaches into the NBA, there will inevitably be others who catch the attention of professional franchises in the coming years.

Who is most likely to make the jump from the college ranks to the NBA in the next few years? Our writers gave their answers for this week’s Dribble Handoff.

Dan Hurley, UConn

I’ll start this list with why it exists and present Hurley as an obvious candidate to someday leave college basketball and go to the NBA. He passed on the opportunity this time, for sure. But I remain skeptical that he will remain tied to college basketball forever — or even much longer.

When Hurley announced his decision to reject the Lakers and remain at UConn, some interpreted it to mean he had chosen college basketball over the NBA. However, I don’t think this is an accurate way to frame things. In reality, all Hurley did was choose his current situation at UConn (i.e., a chance to win a third consecutive national championship with a team that is currently listed as a co-favorite to win the 2025 NCAA Tournament) over of the situation he would have. he’s been taking over Los Angeles (i.e., a team that just finished seventh in the Western Conference with a best player who will turn 40 later this year). As I wrote on MondayI completely understand Hurley’s decision, especially because I imagine it would be difficult to give up a historic opportunity in a place you love to move your family 3,000 miles across the country for a big bag of uncertainty.

But circumstances will be different from now on.

Presumably, Hurley won’t always walk away from back-to-back national titles with a chance to join John Wooden as the only person to win three in a row in this sport. And the next NBA franchise that pursues Hurley will likely A) make more sense geographically for his family of Northeasterners, B) have a much younger best player, and C) put a lot more guaranteed money on the table than the reported $70 million that the Lakers just won. offered over a period of six years. In other words, all things considered, it was probably pretty easy for Hurley to pass on the Lakers since all the so-called cards were on the so-called table. But the next time he’s pursued by an NBA franchise, the lure of the pros could be greater. – Gary Parrish

Lloyd, 49, waited nearly two decades to become head coach, patiently helping turn Gonzaga into a behemoth under Mark Few. After three seasons in the desert, Lloyd is 88-20 at Arizona, giving him one of the winningest starts to his career in men’s DI history. The Wildcats were first or second in all three seasons and prepared to be top 25 once again in Year 4 under the affable Lloyd.

But that’s only part of the reason he’s my choice.

Lloyd just finished training USA Basketball for a U18 championship over the weekend. He is becoming a key cog in the USA Basketball machine. In addition to Lloyd’s early success and his overall temperament in the NBA mold, the fact that he is already working in the US basketball pipeline (with greater access and relationship building with people at the professional level) could prepare him for the NBA calls before the end. of the decade if the victory continues It is Lloyd manages to lead Arizona to the Final Four. (Which I think he will, eventually.) Hurley got a lot of credit for his offense at UConn, but Lloyd is just as smart and inventive in that regard at Arizona.

He coaches a style that can translate to the highest level, and don’t forget: Lloyd has long established his ability to recruit and coach foreign players (that won’t be a key selling point with a professional franchise like the NBA gets more international each year). I’d be surprised if he doesn’t seriously flirt with the NBA before his time in Arizona is up, whether that’s two years from now or sometime in the 2030s. – Matt Norlander

Eric Musselman, USC

Musselman is the only one on this list that you don’t have to imagine coaching in the NBA. He’s done this before. Before stints at Arizona State, LSU, Nevada, Arkansas and now USC, Musselman briefly coached the Kings and Warriors, and also had stints as an assistant with the Magic, Hawks and Grizzlies.

None of the head coaching stints Muss had in the NBA were particularly successful, to be clear, but he was fired after one season. The jury is still out on his NBA coaching acumen.

As good as Musselman has been as a college coach, he has been something of a nomad for hire, with USC now his fourth school in the last decade. Such is life as a college coach, but perhaps more stability in the NBA — where he would do less recruiting, fewer NIL trades and less legwork building rosters — might do him good at some point if he helps turn around USC in a hurry .

Some of his best teams over the years have run fast-paced, spread-out offenses in the NBA, and he has generally done well adapting his system based on personnel. If he can turn the Trojans from a mid-tier Pac-12 program into a consistent force in the Big Ten, he could once again become a major name worth monitoring, given his long track record as a proven winner at every step. – Kyle Boone

There are few college basketball coaches with a better reputation in the world of Xs and Os than Shrewsberry. If you’re willing to look deeper than his 50-51 record in three seasons as a college coach shows, it’s obvious he has potential as an NBA head coach. For starters, he worked with Brad Stevens as a Celtics assistant from 2013 to 2019, which means he’s been to five straight playoffs and knows firsthand what it takes at that level. Since then, he has served as an assistant to Matt Painter at Purdue, two seasons as the head coach at Penn State and one year as the head coach at Notre Dame.

Shrewsberry developed a creative system to maximize Penn State’s roster in the 2022-23 season and led the Nittany Lions to their first NCAA Tournament since 2011. It was a 3-point oriented five-point philosophy that showcased his forward-thinking schematic creativity and an understanding of how to maximize the advantages of confrontation. Then, at Notre Dame, he took over an 11-win program that had been decimated by games and turned it into a team that was playing its best basketball late in the season. The Fighting Irish are well-positioned to make the NCAA Tournament — or at least show marked improvement — in 2024-25.

After he leads the Fighting Irish to the Big Dance, don’t be surprised to hear his name pop up in NBA head coaching searches. Your combination of strategic knowledge and well-rounded experience are more than enough to take you to the next level. – David Cobb

Although Oats has no NBA coaching experience, he has built Alabama into one of college basketball’s elite offenses, which could make him an ideal candidate to make the jump to the next level. Alabama finished with the highest scoring offense (90.1 ppg) last season and reached the Final Four for the first time in program history. The year before, the Crimson Tide earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and made it to the second weekend before being eliminated by San Diego State.

Oats’ player development has also been positive. Brandon Miller (No. 2 overall) and Noah Clowney (No. 21) were first-round picks in 2023 NBA Draft after productive seasons at the school under Oats’ supervision. The only thing that could stop Oats from jumping to the next level — or even another college job — is his hefty buyout, which is pegged at $18 million if he leaves within the next two years. With so many changes happening in college basketball, Oats is positioning himself as one of the best coaches in the sport. It wouldn’t be surprising if NBA teams start paying attention. – Cameron Salerno