Woj On Dan Hurley: He Wasn’t Ready

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Dan Hurley’s potential transition to the NBA wasn’t cut off because of the money. It appears it goes deeper than what fans initially knew.

UConn and Hurley have the chance to do something nobody has done since John Wooden’s UCLA teams, which is winning three straight NCAA Championships. He’s in a very special time in his coaching career.

Besides adjusting playing styles with the X’s and O’s, the 51-year-old would have to change the way he coaches players in practice, his temperament, and going from college athletes to grown men who play professional sports. Woj says he “wasn’t there yet on doing that.”

Then ESPN’s favorite spoke about how Hurley wasn’t ready and gave his insights on that:

“I think in the end for Dan Hurley, he wasn’t ready to do the job. I think he loved what he heard in L.A. from Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss. He loved the idea of having Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and the group they have in the short-term. And then working with Pelinka over time with a six-year deal to draft players to find what Rob Pelinka told him would be Hurley-type players for the Lakers. He was going to have a hand in all of that

“But ultimately, for Dan Hurley, at 51 years old, wasn’t ready to make that move. And I think there was never really an instance in the last days of this where Dan Hurley told the Lakers, ‘Hey, if you hit this number I am coming.’ He wasn’t ready to come and it wasn’t about what the number was.”

With Hurley now withdrawing himself from the Los Angeles Lakers coaching search, other candidates like JJ Redick and James Borrego are on the table.