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When deciding between staying at UConn or accepting a job to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dan Hurley consulted an NBA coach who faced a similar decision more than a decade ago.
The Huskies head coach sought advice from Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, per CT Insider’s David Borges. Donovan won a pair of championships at Florida in 2006 and 2007 and was offered the head coaching position for the Orlando Magic, which he initially accepted before retracting his commitment to return to Gainesville.
“We didn’t get into the Lakers’ situation or their personnel,” Donovan said. “I think Danny needed to go through whatever he went through. He was going to be able to find out the inner workings of the Lakers. I don’t know anything about that … Danny had to go through that on his own.”
Hurley is coming off back-to-back championships with UConn, but he was offered a job to lead one of the most historic franchises in NBA history as well as one of the greatest players of all time in LeBron James. The allure of the Lakers’ head coaching job wasn’t enough to pull him from the collegiate ranks just yet, though.
“My whole mindset, the type of coaching that suits me best right now, is certainly college,” Hurley said, per Borges. “I want to be able to control my own destiny the best that I can. I schedule my games, I pick the players, I hire my staff. I decide how long we’re going to practice, when we’re going to practice.”
When Donovan was presented with a head coaching job in the NBA, he went as far as to accept a five-year, $27.5 million contract before reconsidering it and returning to Florida. He stayed with the Gators until 2015 when he officially joined the NBA ranks by accepting a deal to be the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Donovan has stayed in the NBA since then, coaching the Thunder until 2020 when he took over as the Bulls head coach.
Whether Hurley, who is eight years younger than Donovan, will follow a similar path is to be determined, but for now he still has work to do with the Huskies.
UConn returns a handful of talent from the national championship team while also boasting the No. 6 recruiting class in the country, per 247Sports.
Only one team has won three championships in a row, the legendary UCLA dynasty from the 1960s and 1970s, but Hurley is looking to make history this year. The Lakers’ pursuit of him only amplifies the level of coach Hurley is, and another championship seems well within reach for the Huskies with Hurley coming back.