Sports
Hurley, UConn agree to 6-year, $50M contract – ESPN
After a roller-coaster weekend filled with rumors and speculation, Dan Hurley’s loyalty to UConn trumped the bright lights of Los Angeles and the Lakers. (1:26)
UConn coach Dan Hurley, who has led the Huskies to back-to-back national championships and turned down an offer from the Los Angeles Lakers last month, has signed a new contract to stay in Storrs through the 2029-30 season.
Hurley’s new deal is worth $50 million over six years, before performance-based incentives.
“It’s an honor to coach basketball at UConn and to represent this world class institution and the great state of Connecticut,” Hurley said in a statement. “We are extremely proud of the championship program that we have rebuilt for our supporters and fans. We will continue to obsessively pursue championships and historic success, while continuing to develop great young men. Bleed Blue!”
• 141-58 (.709) in six seasons at UConn; made four straight NCAA tournament appearances
• Won consecutive national titles; UConn is the first school to win consecutive national titles since Florida in 2006-07
• 68 wins in past two seasons, most by any team in Division I during that span
• Won 37 games last season, most in a season in UConn history
• Outscored opponents by 140 points in the 2024 NCAA tournament, the best points differential by any team in a single NCAA tournament all time
• Won 12 straight NCAA tournament games by double digits, the longest streak all time
— ESPN Stats & Information
Earlier this offseason, Hurley rejected a six-year, $70 million offer to become the Lakers’ head coach. He emerged as the franchise’s top target in early June, but after flying out to Los Angeles to meet with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss, Hurley opted to return to UConn. The Lakers later hired JJ Redick as coach.
Under his new contract, Hurley will receive a base salary of $400,000 per year and additional compensation that rises every year for speaking, consulting and media obligations. The additional compensation begins at $6.375 million for the 2024-25 season. He will also get a retention bonus of $1 million per year.
“Dan Hurley is the best men’s basketball coach in the nation and we are delighted that he will continue to call UConn home,” UConn president Radenka Maric said in the statement. “In addition to the exceptional program he has built over a period of years and the extraordinary back-to-back NCAA championships he and his teams won, Coach Hurley serves as a critical mentor to our student-athletes, pushing them to achieve both on the court and in the classroom, helping to lay the groundwork for their success in life long after they have left UConn. We are grateful both for his championship culture and for his leadership at our university and in our state.”
After stints at Wagner and Rhode Island, Hurley arrived at UConn in 2018. In his six seasons with the Huskies, he is 141-58, and he guided the program to national championships in 2023 and 2024.
Over the past two seasons, UConn is 68-11, the best two-year stretch in program history. The Huskies have been historically dominant in the past two postseasons, winning all 12 NCAA tournament games by double digits.
“On behalf of UConn Nation, we are thrilled that Coach Hurley will continue to lead the Men’s Basketball program for the foreseeable future,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said in the statement. “Dan and Andrea have poured themselves into the rebuilding of this program that culminated in the last two National Championships. This contract is recognition for the immense amount of effort that went into producing those results and the dedication it will require to sustain a program that expects to compete for conference and national championships in the future.”
Despite seeing four players selected in June’s NBA draft, UConn is set to open the season ranked in the top five once again. The Huskies return Alex Karaban, who withdrew from the NBA draft process, and welcome top-10 recruit Liam McNeeley.
No team has accomplished three straight championships since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The past two teams to win back-to-back titles (Florida and Duke) didn’t make it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament the third time around, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The only team to three-peat is UCLA, which won seven straight titles under John Wooden from 1967 to ’73.
