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basketball, Crypto.com Arena, Dan Hurley, John Wooden, Lake Show, Lakers, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Times, National Basketball Association, NBA, NCAA, Pete Carroll, UCLA, USC
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The soon-to-be head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers? Photo courtesy of latimes.com
MY THOUGHTS REGARDING THE POSSIBLE OF THE LAKERS HIRING THIS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP COLLEGE COACH
It’s been all over the sports news in So Cal the past couple of days;
The Lakers seemingly very much wanting to hire Dan Hurley, the University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball coach whose Huskies won their second straight NCAA championship a couple of months ago.
According to various sources, the Lakers want this guy badly, to the tune of offering him at least $100 million according to the Lakers Nation site.
After reading the feature article and Bill Plaschke’s column in the Los Angeles Times regarding this coach and his personality and approach,
Here’s what I have to say about the whole thing…
It’s not going to work.
Hurley should stay at Connecticut and build a legacy there, like John Wooden did at UCLA.
Here’s why…
Dan Hurley, the son of longtime New Jersey high school hoops coach Bob Hurley and brother of former Duke standout and current Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, has a personality that can be best describes as intense and in-your-face;
In Plaschke’s column, he quoted Hurley as saying that he can be “an a**hole” in order to get players to perform to their capabilities and win;
He has also had incidents with opposing fans in the form of yelling at them and saying things a coach shouldn’t say.
An intense and in your face style personality and style can work for high school and college kids – Bob Knight, the legendary coach who led Indiana to three national championships and was the leader of college basketball’s last undefeated team in 1976, is the perfect example of that.
But as far as men in the NBA?
One word…
NO.
Can anyone imagine Hurley trying to get in LeBron James’ or Anthony Davis’ faces when he feels they need to do a better job at something?
Not without some confrontations between player and coach that no one needs.
In short, men trying to feed their families in the NBA will tire of Hurley’s personality and approach fairly quickly.
And unless he changes such, which I doubt as one can’t change his personality in the tradition of the leopard not being able to change his spots,
Add to that the fact that successful college coaches rarely succeed in the NBA or even the NFL;
Pete Carroll, who was fired by the New York Jets and the New England Patriots before he came to USC and ignited the Trojans’ glory days in the 2000’s, and Nick Saban, who was fired by the Miami Dolphins before he became about as God-like as Bear Bryant at Alabama with all that dominance, are perfect examples of that.
Well, let’s just put it like this,
Should Dan Hurley be indeed hired as the Lakers’ new head coach,
I would give him two years at the helm.
At the most.
Unless they – at the very least – go far in next season’s playoffs, which I honestly don’t see them doing.
Of course, my opinion means absolutely nothing as the Lakers will probably hire Hurley and give him the keys to the Lake Show kingdom.
But that’s how I see all of this.
I’m looking forward to see how this works out at this time next year.
AN UPDATE:
Hurley did, in my opinion, the right thing and the smart thing in announcing that he turned down the Lakers’ $70 million offer to remain in Storrs, CT as the Connecticut coach and go for a third straight national championship next season;
Something that hasn’t been done in college basketball in nearly fifty years, since John Wooden’s seven NCAA titles in a row from 1967-73 in Westwood.
I wonder if he read this post and took my advice to heart…
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