{"id":80982,"date":"2024-06-10T13:42:51","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T17:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=80982"},"modified":"2024-06-10T13:51:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T17:51:31","slug":"breaking-dan-hurley-turns-down-lakers-returns-to-uconn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/10\/breaking-dan-hurley-turns-down-lakers-returns-to-uconn\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Dan Hurley Turns Down Lakers, Returns to UConn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After shocking the NBA world with his interest in coaching the Lakers, Dan Hurley ultimately said, \u201cThanks, but no thanks.\u201d UConn&#8217;s leading man will return to Storrs to chase a seventh national title.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: Connecticut\u2019s Dan Hurley has turned down the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 six-year, $70 million offer and will return to chase a third straight national title, sources tell ESPN. LA would\u2019ve made him one of NBA\u2019s six highest paid coaches. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hEXo3o00SR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/hEXo3o00SR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1800221050795688214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hurley previously <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/nba\/uconns-dan-hurley-reportedly-make-decision-lakers-job-on-monday\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">told Fox Sports<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the process towards a new deal grew complicated:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8230;it&#8217;s taken more time (to get a deal done) than any of us would have liked. It&#8217;s not something that&#8217;s been a rush for me. You sacrifice a lot to do this job. The job beats your ass pretty good, and a lot suffers with your family. Any chance at a social life, it consumes everything you have.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As swept away as Hurley became by the Lakers courtship and vision for him, he ultimately couldn&#39;t walk away from a chance to make history and pursue a third straight NCAA title. Even before Lakers talks, Hurley already had a UConn offer to become one of highest paid NCAA coaches\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1800222757499613369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, Hurley has the chance to do what no coach has accomplished since John Wooden did in the late 1960s: three-peat.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>BREAKING: Dan Hurley Turns Down Lakers, Returns to UConn<\/h2>\n<h3><b>Unfinished Business<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hurley is returning to a UConn squad that graduated two fifth years and two seniors, among them <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/06\/cam-spencer-2024-nba-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NBA Draft prospect<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/cam-spencer-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cam Spencer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Hurley\u2019s son, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/andrew-hurley-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Andrew<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The Huskies have two other league hopefuls in the 2024 class\u2014big man <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/donovan-clingan-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donovan Clingan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and wing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/stephon-castle-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stephon Castle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Starting forward <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/alex-karaban-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alex Karaban<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was also on that list, but <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/college-basketball\/news\/nba-draft-2024-withdrawal-deadline-winners-and-losers-uconn-gets-a-starter-back-memphis-star-not-returning\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has since decided to return next year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hurley\u2019s Huskies have the personnel to go for three in a row, but it won\u2019t be easy. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtnh.com\/on-air\/thisweekinconnecticut\/what-will-it-take-for-uconn-to-three-peat\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WTNH Sports Director John Pierson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> noted that the Huskies lost a lot with graduation and the draft, but have also gained new faces thanks to the portal. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/2024\/04\/29\/uconn-offseason-domination-lands-transfer-aidan-mahaney\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among the key names are<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/aidan-mahaney-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aidan Mahaney<\/a> from St. Mary\u2019s and forward\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/tarris-reed-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Terris Reed Jr.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Michigan, who are joining a standout incoming freshmen class of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/uconnhuskies.com\/news\/2024\/4\/30\/mens-basketball-uconn-inks-five-star-liam-mcneeley-to-nli.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Liam McNeeley<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/38059693\/2024-espn-100-guard-ahmad-nowell-play-uconn\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahmad Nowell<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/connecticut.rivals.com\/news\/uconn-bound-f-isaiah-abraham-talks-future-with-program-ncaa-tournament#\/:~:text=UConn%20bound%20F%20Isaiah%20Abraham%20talks%20future%20with%20program,%20NCAA%20Tournament,-Zach%20Smart%20%E2%80%A2&amp;text=has%20the%20tools%20and%20intangibles,3-point%20shot-making.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Isaiah Abraham<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The first-years will have big shoes to fill upon their arrival, while Reed will likely assume the role that Clingan left behind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hurley\u2019s strong recruiting and player development have put <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/39895473\/mens-college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-rankings-2024-25-season\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UConn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a great position to win another title. Even with all of the changes in college basketball\u2014especially since Florida went back-to-back in 2006 and \u201807\u2014you can always count on the Huskies to remain in the hunt.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After shocking the NBA world with his interest in coaching the Lakers, Dan Hurley ultimately said, \u201cThanks, but no thanks.\u201d UConn&#8217;s leading man will return to Storrs to chase a seventh national title. BREAKING: Connecticut\u2019s Dan Hurley has turned down the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 six-year, $70 million offer and will return to chase a third [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":80584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[5008,1744],"class_list":["post-80982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-dan-hurley","tag-uconn-huskies"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}