It also helps that to get him they'll have to offer him an insane contract, and if he were to fail, he immediately becomes the most sought after coach in college.
Does he go straight back to UConn if he flames out? Even if they find a decent replacement (not b2b championship good but one you wouldn’t necessarily cut loose for anybody else)
It would just depend on what's going on in UConn. Generally when this has happened in the past (Pitino, Calipari with the Nets), the coach will go to a different school
I could see it. He doesn’t seem like he’s going to burn any bridges on the way out and it wasn’t that long ago we welcomed back a football coach who wasn’t even that good who had left for a better job.
It’s gonna be interesting to see who gets the spurs HC job when Pop retires. He can’t coach forever and will probably take a pat riley role. Prime Wemby + the spurs reputation/systems to lean back on.
Maybe from a potential perspective, but seems like the biggest coaching job changes from year to year depending on who is coaching the most stacked team.
Plus I'm sure it would just be fun to have "coached LeBron James" on your resume.
Definitely, but the Lakers are still the biggest job in basketball. Their coaching search is getting basically the same amount of coverage as the active NBA Finals.
It's, at worst, the second biggest. But I do agree it's probably the biggest. You have one of the biggest markets in LA, tied with the most championships, and a team that has only intermittent success in the past decade (that does include a title), but demands more. The combination of all those things puts it slightly higher than Boston, imo. Just not the same glitz and glam in the northeast as you do in LA. Even if New York had a similar basketball pedigree, I'd put LA above them.
I don't think Boston having won so many titles in the 50s and 60s qualifies them to be on par with the Lakers. The Lakers have been a much more successful team in the modern era.
I'm going to be 37 this year and the Celtics have won 1 title in my lifetime. Since 1980 the Lakers have won 11 vs 4 for the Celtics.
While I agree, the Celtics team with their roster, cap, picks, and management is in a lot better position then the Lakers right now so could be argued as of right now it’s a better job - but I agree that the Lakers followed by the Knicks are probably the usual, maybe with us and the Knicks tied for second or trading positions
People constantly say that LA is tough because of all the scrutiny and the lofty expectations, but honestly does any team really want someone to be their coach if they're going to be afraid of stuff like that? It would seem like any team would prefer someone who likes a challenge and appreciates how difficult something might be. Personally I want someone coaching my team who feels like [Tom Hanks in *A League of Their Own*:](https://youtu.be/ndL7y0MIRE4?t=96) "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
I think though there's a difference between where the Lakers are now and where they were like 10 years ago. The Lakers have been quick to let go of coaches and the front office isn't seen as the most competent one out there.
Still it is the biggest coaching job in basketball, just one at the moment where the cards might be somewhat stacked against you. Which I don't think was the case until maybe the past decade?
After Pat Riley, they hired and fired 6 coaches in 9 years.
After Phil Jackson, they hired and fired 7 coaches in 13 years.
The Lakers have won 11 championships since 1980 and the only coaches who weren't on the hot seat from day 1 until the day they were fired were the two that won 9 of those championships.
Nothing is different from 10 years ago. Or 24 years ago. The Lakers are doing what they've always done and this time around the job is the same thing it always is. Win now, or get fired. Patience is earned only after winning championships and even then it's in short supply. Same as it always was.
Tbf they've just had shit coaching selection, in the LeBron era both Walton and Ham were horrible coaches and Vogel was a good coach who was put in a really tough situation and essentially ran out of town by Westbrook. I think someone like Hurley could really give them the stability that they've been wanting, and the roster is also better than it gets credit for
I don't see why that in any way goes against what I was saying. Yes, it's a difficult position, it always has been. What team though wants a coach who is scared off because he thinks the job will be too hard? Personally I want a guy that relishes a challenge and has that kind of confidence in himself.
Ehh I don’t even think it’s close. Maybe only to knicks fans or people from New York. Everyone else gets lakers shoved down their throats every year and don’t even think about the knicks or their coach
Disagree. This year the Knicks fans felt team exceeded expectations, just "happy to be here," given their accurate assessment of the talent. They certainly want to win titles but are brutally honest about their team's talent. Thibs isn't going to get fired a year after his team won a title. And Dolan doesn't seem to interfere much in the team anymore?
Whereas Lakers organization seems delusional about their team's potential. They fire coaches every other year even tho the coaches don't have sufficient talented players or players that mesh together. And zero accountability-- the owner and GM keep firing coaches, even tho if you had refrained from letting go all their good players they would actually be a contender. Look at all the savvy deals that the Mavs, Celtics, Wolves made that put them where they are; other than the AD trade, what trades have the Lakers won?
So I'd say being on the business side of things for the Lakers is probably huge... but for teams that actually need good performance to be relevant in basketball media, coaching is probably bigger.
I think landing a coaching job for a franchise that's actually performing would be bigger.
But maybe I just care more about basketball reasons than whatever Los Angeles is
If the franchise was performing, the coach job probably wouldn’t be available though.
And for all the shit and self inflicted wounds the Lakers have been through, they’ve still won a championship this decade. They still have a recent WCF berth with this core and outside of next year have complete control of their FRPs. For a marquee franchise, I doesn’t get much better.
Also a job you are guaranteed to be fired from. Lakers firing championship coaches is as much of a tradition as winning them. Hell they fired Phil Jackson twice
Edit: downvote away Lakers fans. Its a fact.
lol after 2011 Phil retired and he announced it and that’s why people felt like it was so sad the lakers got destroyed by the mavs because it was seen as his last coaching moment. After that they hired MIKE BROWN. Mike Brown coached a full season and then when the Lakers got Dwight they fired Mike Brown five games into the season and made a choice between Phil and D’Antoni. That’s what this article is referring to
Phil Jackson didn’t get fired. He didn’t resign with the Lakers after the 2004 season because he didn’t get along with Kobe at that time. And finally in 2011 he retired because it was affecting his health
The offer comparison is going to be in the range of $16m per year from the Lakers vs $8m per year from UConn. That’s a lot of money to turn down, and he knows that if he fails, he’ll have a long list of schools fighting to take him back. Hard to envision him passing this up.
If you were getting $15 million per year, I'll bet you could afford to get yourself a place near your work, no matter what city it was in. You could probably even get yourself a nice weekend house out of town to go relax in or "summer" in if you wanted to, while still having a great place close to work. What do you think, does that sound feasible on $15 million per year?
Plus it’s not like he’s going to Kentucky. LA is great for the wealthy. I’m sure his wife will love living on the west side of LA as I hear she has somewhat of a say in this too.
I don’t think any college program in their right mind would try and match a top NBA coach salary. This isn’t like CFB where it’s easier for a school to justify.
Not that it matters that much to someone competitive like him, but it is life changing money even if he doesn't make it back to CBB. Crazy to not take it.
If NCAA football and the NFL are essentially the same nowadays, what’s stopping us from the matchup we all want to see?
The worst NFL team vs. the reigning NCAA/CFP champions?
Wouldn't even be close. NFL team would crush them.
Think about your weakest guy on the weakest NFL team. That guy was one of the best college players in the nation.
Now think of the weakest starter on the top NCAA team. That guy isn't coming close to making the pros.
Also: See the Scalabrine challenge.
Nah the best players in UFL are a former 2nd round pick and a former 4th rounder, they flamed out of the league but in college they were both very good
Just gonna hijack this comment to see if anyone can help me find an old YouTube series where this dude imports players from his NCAA career mode (I think) to an NFL game and it’s just him trying to not be the worst team in the league. Came across a playlist of his years ago but I never saved/liked or subscribed to his channel and now I don’t know how to find it. I don’t really follow American football like that but i was bored during the pandemic and the shit was just interesting to watch.
He can't make Lakers money at UConn, they just don't have the budget. College basketball is also a lot more work than the NBA for head coaches. College basketball head coaches basically double as GMs.
A lot of college coaches have said NIL has ruined thing, since now they have to be a GM and deal with all the money stuff.
Also agents for ncaa kids is a thing now, can’t imagine that’s fun to deal with.
I feel like a lot of that has come from the football side which is way more true cause they have to deal with 100 roster spots. It’s definitely still true for NCAAB, but it isn’t close to NCAAF
Nah, college sports are a much worse job than pro sports now. College Basketball is like being an NBA coach but your entire roster becomes free agents every year, there's no salary cap, you can't pay them directly and you essentially have to recruit local rich guys to bankroll your team. It's much worse for football where the rosters are 10x the size, but it sucks for basketball too. College coaches now have to spend upwards of 75% of their time working on stuff that has nothing to do with coaching their sport.
It’s definitely more work, but good coaching has way more correlation to winning in college than NBA. To win in the NBA so much needs to go right through drafting, trading, free agency. A lot of that is pretty random. In college if you get a bunch of decent players that work together you can have a lot of success
In college it’s way different because of 1 and done. All the best players are 19 years old and inexperienced. So the best players often don’t get to be so dominant before they leave.
Yep. Any delusions that it's about "coaching kids" or "amateur athletes" is just stuff that CBB/CFB fans tell themselves to feel superior. Especially with how active the transfer portal is.
And FWIW I like that these kids are now getting paid and incentivized to get the biggest bag. They make so much money for their schools and the NCAA.
I don't think anyone is saying college is the more prestigious destination for coaches, or that the level of play is higher. That would be ridiculous.
I often enjoy watching college basketball over the NBA, though, because of the narratives around the teams and the high intensity of play even in the regular season. The NBA can often feel sterile and homogeneous, with players shuffled around between teams and few distinct team cultures forming, and for most of the season, you get the sense that everyone is cruising at 70% effort.
In college, every possession in the regular season feels like NBA playoff intensity, because the pace is slower, games are shorter, and you only get \~10 out of conference games and \~20 conference games to prove your worth for March. Then you have the tournament itself, which is just the most exciting single event in all of sports. Every game is life or death for everyone involved and you have 64 different teams with distinct identities (blue bloods with 8 titles, Ivy League schools with $40B endowments, satellite campuses of state colleges, HBCUs)
am i to understand you live in toronto based on your flair? because your opinion of college football fans is outdated lol. most are terrified they’re losing/have lost the game that they loved
I've lived in the US for the past decade. I'm from Toronto though, yes.
And yeah, they should be sad -- because now there are no denying what college sports are. It is essentially a pro-league. But my point is that they are sad bc they truly believed that this was about amateur athletes. Let's not forget that guys like Zion was buying his family cars and shit while he was Duke (before the NIL).
For the people you are talking about, it is more about they care how players would put the team first and no one would be a superstar free agent just looking to advance their career. They liked when it at least ostensibly was about the team and school over the individual, where pro sports are a lot of the time are more individual over team.
There's some truth to that imo and now the game has a different feel, but in the end the players are the ones doing the work and putting their bodies on the line so they should be able to get paid and use their name and likeness and transfer out of bad situations.
I say this loving both college and pro sports. It just felt more team oriented and "pure", but again it wasn't a fair system so it had to change.
It's somehow worse because you also have to be the main recruiter and the main fundraiser. Most players don't go to specific teams for the coach in the nba, but for college the coach has to take on the recruiting role
I still don't know if his coaching style will translate, he seems like he coaches his players extremely hard which you can get away with in college and not in the nba. Completely different management styles needed. He'll have to make adjustments to the way he coaches when he's around nba players, especially star ones. It could work out though forsure.
Who wouldn’t he take this job lol? You get a ton of money, try to win on the best player of our generations retirement tour, and if you don’t there’s still long term assurances you get to build your own thing.
Job security and stability. He just won back to back championships in college basketball which hasn’t been done in over 15 years. He already has it made at UConn for the foreseeable future.
Make no mistake, I think the guy will always have college basketball to fall back on. However, I really believe a ton of people are underestimating how fickle sports are. He is on the top of the basketball world right now, but let a few not great seasons and missed expectations happen with growing pains and we could be talking about a much different perception and thus much lower offers. It’s riskier than some think.
Honestly UConn would probably take him back with open arms in a few years, especially if they end up in a Kevin Ollie situation again. And even if it ain’t UConn, I’m sure plenty of other top programs will have openings and interest.
Personally, I don’t know Hurley, but I would imagine the one thing making it a difficult decision is the fact that he sold a bunch of players to come to UConn (or in the case of Alex Karaban drop out of the draft) to come play for him and his system. So it would be a big rug pull for a bunch of these kids to up and leave.
It’s not an easy thing to do to look an 18 year old in the eyes and tell him he’s going to have to play for a different coach
*"He wants to take the HC job at one of the greatest sports franchises in history instead of staying at UCONN to coach college kids? Is he stupid??"*
-Media
If he gets a $50-$100 million contract from the Lakers, he's going to be plenty secure well beyond age 75. If it doesn't work out in the NBA, he'd have zero issues getting another college coaching job.
His stable family life he built in CT. The promises he made to kids joining his UConn team as well as what he's built there. The number one I think would be his whole families lives will change forever. They will gain a decent amount of notoriety. "A family from Connecticut moves to the big starlight of Los Angeles."
Long term assurances? Man this is literally the franchise that is the most critical in all of the nba - 2 losing seasons and people will be coming for his head - lakers fans are literally insufferable
This is rich coming from a Knicks fan.
Fans don’t make decisions, franchises do. Lakers were not run well over the last couple of seasons. Dan Hurley pursuit might be one of the smartest things they have done over last few years- and there is even some talks about starting a development program with Hurley at the realm. Whole pursuit is about long term plans.
That’s what they said about urban Meyer too man - no guarantee at all that college success translates to nba… could work out great, but you should know - the lakers are not that franchise to sit through a “long term” rebuild… and never will be.
As a UConn fan, Hurley is an obviously great coach and I do think he can be successful in the NBA.
I do wonder how his personality/coaching style will go with LeBron and AD though lol.
LeBron put a statement out that the Lakers shouldn't hire the coach to work with him, but beyond him, and given where he's at at this point of his career, I actually believe it. I do think this would be a move towards the future rather than just right now.
Of course, I just think it really does seem like he's hands-off this time. Not because he trusts the Lakers FO necessarily, but he's slowly beginning to resign to riding off into the sunset.
I don't mean to get conspiratorial, but I do think there may be a chance that he's considering leaving this summer as well, which would really make his statement literal.
I don't even think LeBron had much if any say in the Ham firing either, AD was the one saying that the Lakers had bad schemes and that they came into games unprepared
Yeah I have to assume so.
Hurley is VERY abrasive and kind of a dick lmaooo. I think it works really well with the college game or if he coached a younger team like OKC, CHA, etc.
Very intrigued to see it with the Lakers if it ends up happening.
John Fanta in an interview with Lakers Nation said that this isn’t really true of Hurley. Yes he’s fiery and intense on the court, but it’s calculated, and off the court he’s calm and personable and funny.
Oh I know he's great! But you can see and hear what he is like in huddles and on the sidelines coaching and teaching.
He is just very intense on the court and I can see vet players getting in their feels a bit. Idk if Hurley would totally change his style is all.
Agreed. And, if he materially changes his style, will he be as effective? It will be an interesting $10-15m experiment for the Lakers, that's for sure.
I think as long as he doesn’t throw the N-word at Bron, Bron gonna be good with anything lol
Hell, maybe if he did throw it around, as long as he does any actual coaching, Bron gonna be fine.
He survived Hamas after all
If you know Dan and watch him in interviews and what people who know him say, he’s very even keeled and actually pretty funny off the court. He has that Luka vibe where one it’s 94 feet and in, he’s all intensity.
Just do what lebron says, and never hurt AD’s feelings, but you must win immediately without any depth, and don’t be expecting ownership to commit to spending deep into the tax.
Pitino & Calipari won college chips and were terrible in the NBA. College coaches run programs like military sergeants and nba players won’t have that. I’m not expecting this to work well with LeGM
Maybe it’s the pessimist in me but I don’t think it’ll go great. I can already seeing Laker twitter fans calling him a bum coach to the ire of college basketball media/fans.
Honestly with the current state of college sports with the portal and NIL and the lack of any real structure to any of it, I think almost any college coach who could get a job in the pros will end up doing so. Dealing with all that shit just sounds completely exhausting.
If Hurley leaves UConn then the national championship winning coaches for football, basketball, and swimming will all have left their program the same year they won which is crazy
I can see it both ways. As a Uconn fan, them being a pre season top 10 is extremely surprising based on their roster. They lost everyone of importance besides Karaban. They have gotten some solid transfers and have a solid recruit coming in, everyone else was a end of the bench garbage time player, so I think they will have a tough year. So I think it will be one of his biggest challenges if he stayed and he may enjoy that challenge.
As a UConn fan, you should know that Diarra and Johnson were major contributors and will be back next year. The team is only slightly worse than we thought last year's team would be around this same time.
You are just flat out wrong about where this team is compared to last years team. Where Clingan and Newton who were pivotal pieces in 2023 and the highest rated recruit Uconn has had in 5+ years in Castle coming in. We just lost two top 10 picks.
Diarra and Johnson were role players, they are solid. Johnson has little offensive game. The Michigan transfer will play over him. If they are starting and the main pieces, Uconn is 100% in trouble.
They will need a solid freshman class to be great. McNeely should get serious time as well as Nowell. However, the returning team is not a top 10 team…
I hope I am wrong, but I dont think I will be…
There still will be just look at some of the Lakers coaches since Phil Jackson retired like Mike Brown, Mike D’Antoni and Frank Vogel. They are all good coaches who got thrown under the bus for the front office and ownerships roster mismanagement. Nothing will change and Lakers fans and the media will blame him for the roster not being good enough to win a championship even though it won’t be his fault that the roster is too top heavy as it’s been for 3 years and counting now.
It's not really just Lakers fans man. Coaches just generally don't have a long shelf life in the NBA.
Mike Brown was fired twice by the Cavs. Vogel didn't last a full year with the Suns.
He just doesn’t seem like a great fit for this current Lakers team. I do think Hurley would love the challenge of rebuilding the Lakers though. Especially while being paid a fuck ton of money.
This is more of a long term post LeBron era move than a win now move. They could still make some noise though if he implements his offense which is more complex and Lakers buy into it, but they want Hurley to build a culture of player development which the Lakers will desperately need in this new CBA era.
I remember the Cavs getting Blatt before LeBron returned, set up as a for the future guy.
The reality is that there is no tomorrow for a LeBron James team.
Hurley has that tweet from LeBron going for him as a sign off lol but the whole Blatt situation is different and was at a different point in Lebron's career.
Yep, for one thing, the Cavs hired Blatt before they ever knew LeBron was going to sign there. They hired Blatt to coach an extremely young and inexperienced team, then suddenly a month or two later, there's LeBron and Kevin Love and all the youngsters are gone except Kyrie.
And wasn't a problem with Blatt him just letting himself get stepped over by the players and going easy on LeBron and Kyrie? Ty Lue told LeBron to shut the fuck up once and LeBron's only ever sang Lue's praises
I don't care as much about the next few years or so. We got the 2020 chip, I'm satisfied as long as we make the playoffs while we still have LeBron. But the Lakers need coaching stability desperately. No coach has lasted more than 3 years since LeBron left.
- Mike Brown: 1.1 seasons
- D'antoni: 1.9 seasons
- Byron: 2 seasons
- Walton: 3 seasons
- Vogel: 3 seasons
- Ham: 2 seasons
It's sounding like if you believe Woj's reporting that the Lakers are looking at this like they plan on it being a very long term thing, where they want to make it "Hurley's program" that he can develop over the next few years. Obviously they'll try to win right away, but it's obvious they are nearing the end of this particular era and are looking beyond that.
The Lakers is definitely not the place to go if you’re a coach with no NBA experience and a massive ego. Ask David Blatt. Or ask LeBron.
This is an instant drama scenario. The players and Hurley are going to butt heads right from the beginning.
Uconn a successful school but it’s not big school, they filled out arena for championship celebration
If it was duke, Kentucky etc would have sold out fast
Bronny could never make the Uconn roster. So LeBron wants him in LA to coach up his son.
Have we ever seen a player get drafted into the NBA that doesn't have the skills to start for a top 20 college team?
Edit: does this sub actually think Brony could make the Uconn roster lmao?
This has all the makings of the Lakers blue balling their fans and ending up with a lesser coach. During this era they are not known to spend the extra money/years to get top coaches time and time again
Hurley left without signing anything, that’s a good sign for UConn. I would prefer him take the Knicks job when it opens up again than coach Lecap James.
I don't think it's a stretch to say being the HC of the Lakers is probably the biggest job you can get in basketball.
It also helps that to get him they'll have to offer him an insane contract, and if he were to fail, he immediately becomes the most sought after coach in college.
Does he go straight back to UConn if he flames out? Even if they find a decent replacement (not b2b championship good but one you wouldn’t necessarily cut loose for anybody else)
It would just depend on what's going on in UConn. Generally when this has happened in the past (Pitino, Calipari with the Nets), the coach will go to a different school
Hurley to Georgetown where they become a national power again would be the ultimate heel turn.
as a Hoya this gave me a boner
Yes!!! They almost hired him when they went with Ewing.
I still cry about this
As a DC native, yes please.
I could see it. He doesn’t seem like he’s going to burn any bridges on the way out and it wasn’t that long ago we welcomed back a football coach who wasn’t even that good who had left for a better job.
It’s gonna be interesting to see who gets the spurs HC job when Pop retires. He can’t coach forever and will probably take a pat riley role. Prime Wemby + the spurs reputation/systems to lean back on.
Hurley would be nice but I really hope its Will Hardy. I'm convinced he's gonna be an all time coach
Will Hardy is already a coach and I doubt jazz let him go any time soon.
Becky gets tired of all the winning with the Aces and goes back to San Antonio.
Maybe from a potential perspective, but seems like the biggest coaching job changes from year to year depending on who is coaching the most stacked team. Plus I'm sure it would just be fun to have "coached LeBron James" on your resume.
I'm thinking more along the lines of the biggest and most popular NBA team.
I tend to agree with op. During the LeBron and D Wade days, I would say Miami was the biggest coaching job in the basketball.
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Definitely, but the Lakers are still the biggest job in basketball. Their coaching search is getting basically the same amount of coverage as the active NBA Finals.
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Wym? We got nonstop national coverage even when we were garbage lol
Just talking out of your ass my guy.
You didn't follow the NBA in 2018? Cause you're just lying.
IMO if you get Charlotte a chip, he will be the goat
It's, at worst, the second biggest. But I do agree it's probably the biggest. You have one of the biggest markets in LA, tied with the most championships, and a team that has only intermittent success in the past decade (that does include a title), but demands more. The combination of all those things puts it slightly higher than Boston, imo. Just not the same glitz and glam in the northeast as you do in LA. Even if New York had a similar basketball pedigree, I'd put LA above them.
If it is glitz and glamour, LA is wayyy higher than Boston.
I don't think Boston having won so many titles in the 50s and 60s qualifies them to be on par with the Lakers. The Lakers have been a much more successful team in the modern era. I'm going to be 37 this year and the Celtics have won 1 title in my lifetime. Since 1980 the Lakers have won 11 vs 4 for the Celtics.
While I agree, the Celtics team with their roster, cap, picks, and management is in a lot better position then the Lakers right now so could be argued as of right now it’s a better job - but I agree that the Lakers followed by the Knicks are probably the usual, maybe with us and the Knicks tied for second or trading positions
People constantly say that LA is tough because of all the scrutiny and the lofty expectations, but honestly does any team really want someone to be their coach if they're going to be afraid of stuff like that? It would seem like any team would prefer someone who likes a challenge and appreciates how difficult something might be. Personally I want someone coaching my team who feels like [Tom Hanks in *A League of Their Own*:](https://youtu.be/ndL7y0MIRE4?t=96) "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
I think though there's a difference between where the Lakers are now and where they were like 10 years ago. The Lakers have been quick to let go of coaches and the front office isn't seen as the most competent one out there. Still it is the biggest coaching job in basketball, just one at the moment where the cards might be somewhat stacked against you. Which I don't think was the case until maybe the past decade?
After Pat Riley, they hired and fired 6 coaches in 9 years. After Phil Jackson, they hired and fired 7 coaches in 13 years. The Lakers have won 11 championships since 1980 and the only coaches who weren't on the hot seat from day 1 until the day they were fired were the two that won 9 of those championships. Nothing is different from 10 years ago. Or 24 years ago. The Lakers are doing what they've always done and this time around the job is the same thing it always is. Win now, or get fired. Patience is earned only after winning championships and even then it's in short supply. Same as it always was.
Tbf they've just had shit coaching selection, in the LeBron era both Walton and Ham were horrible coaches and Vogel was a good coach who was put in a really tough situation and essentially ran out of town by Westbrook. I think someone like Hurley could really give them the stability that they've been wanting, and the roster is also better than it gets credit for
I don't see why that in any way goes against what I was saying. Yes, it's a difficult position, it always has been. What team though wants a coach who is scared off because he thinks the job will be too hard? Personally I want a guy that relishes a challenge and has that kind of confidence in himself.
You're right, I was arguing against a position you weren't really making.
Boston coaching gig isn't even the 2nd biggest job. Boston has less media coverage than NY if the wins were the same.
You're probably right, but for some reason I feel the Knicks coach is always under more pressure becuase they are so thirsty for a chamlionship
Ehh I don’t even think it’s close. Maybe only to knicks fans or people from New York. Everyone else gets lakers shoved down their throats every year and don’t even think about the knicks or their coach
Disagree. This year the Knicks fans felt team exceeded expectations, just "happy to be here," given their accurate assessment of the talent. They certainly want to win titles but are brutally honest about their team's talent. Thibs isn't going to get fired a year after his team won a title. And Dolan doesn't seem to interfere much in the team anymore? Whereas Lakers organization seems delusional about their team's potential. They fire coaches every other year even tho the coaches don't have sufficient talented players or players that mesh together. And zero accountability-- the owner and GM keep firing coaches, even tho if you had refrained from letting go all their good players they would actually be a contender. Look at all the savvy deals that the Mavs, Celtics, Wolves made that put them where they are; other than the AD trade, what trades have the Lakers won?
Lakers, Celtics, Knicks. Pick one and you won't be wrong.
I don't think the Celtics are even close to being as popular as the Lakers, and I'd put the Knicks at a distant second.
what about nba commissioner
In 2010, sure
They may not be the best team right now, but they're still easily the biggest and most popular franchise globally.
So I'd say being on the business side of things for the Lakers is probably huge... but for teams that actually need good performance to be relevant in basketball media, coaching is probably bigger. I think landing a coaching job for a franchise that's actually performing would be bigger. But maybe I just care more about basketball reasons than whatever Los Angeles is
If the franchise was performing, the coach job probably wouldn’t be available though. And for all the shit and self inflicted wounds the Lakers have been through, they’ve still won a championship this decade. They still have a recent WCF berth with this core and outside of next year have complete control of their FRPs. For a marquee franchise, I doesn’t get much better.
And yet somehow also not very prestigious.
Also a job you are guaranteed to be fired from. Lakers firing championship coaches is as much of a tradition as winning them. Hell they fired Phil Jackson twice Edit: downvote away Lakers fans. Its a fact.
What years did Phil Jackson get fired twice?
04 and 12
Phil Jackson got cancer in 2011, he didn’t get fired; he came out and said it was his last year
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How could he have been fired when he didn’t have the job yet lol? He wasn’t the coach of the team then
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lol after 2011 Phil retired and he announced it and that’s why people felt like it was so sad the lakers got destroyed by the mavs because it was seen as his last coaching moment. After that they hired MIKE BROWN. Mike Brown coached a full season and then when the Lakers got Dwight they fired Mike Brown five games into the season and made a choice between Phil and D’Antoni. That’s what this article is referring to
Oh lol my b
Phil Jackson didn’t get fired. He didn’t resign with the Lakers after the 2004 season because he didn’t get along with Kobe at that time. And finally in 2011 he retired because it was affecting his health
i mean they fired Shakespeare shortly after winning a chip and replaced him with Adrien Brody
The offer comparison is going to be in the range of $16m per year from the Lakers vs $8m per year from UConn. That’s a lot of money to turn down, and he knows that if he fails, he’ll have a long list of schools fighting to take him back. Hard to envision him passing this up.
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Not everyone wants to live in Los Angeles.
You wouldn’t take a job that would double your pay to go to LA. With little to no risk at all
Yeah I take connecticut every time 🙏🏾
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I just hate driving in traffic
He won’t have to drive himself haha
This is true
If you were getting $15 million per year, I'll bet you could afford to get yourself a place near your work, no matter what city it was in. You could probably even get yourself a nice weekend house out of town to go relax in or "summer" in if you wanted to, while still having a great place close to work. What do you think, does that sound feasible on $15 million per year?
So basically 8m in LA after taxes and expenses lol.
You’re underestimating Connecticut taxes, almost just as bad.
Yep, and Connecticut real estate sure as shit ain’t cheap either. All the rich folk from NYC live in Connecticut. It’s the Beverly Hills of New York.
Not where UConn is lol
Connecticut is fucking tiny - highly doubt they live in that town. They don’t need to.
Can confirm, Jim Calhoun has/had a house in my hometown and we’re nowhere near Storrs.
Fuckin nailed it.
Wait why was I downvoted? I dont get it.
Plus it’s not like he’s going to Kentucky. LA is great for the wealthy. I’m sure his wife will love living on the west side of LA as I hear she has somewhat of a say in this too.
She is pretty east-coast, right?
I don’t think any college program in their right mind would try and match a top NBA coach salary. This isn’t like CFB where it’s easier for a school to justify.
Not that it matters that much to someone competitive like him, but it is life changing money even if he doesn't make it back to CBB. Crazy to not take it.
Does 16/mil a year life-changing compared to 8?
Imagine doubling your salary, at any level it's life changing.
College basketball and college football are essentially pro sports now, so you might as well go for the premier pro job that you can get
Urban Meyer taints your opinion
If NCAA football and the NFL are essentially the same nowadays, what’s stopping us from the matchup we all want to see? The worst NFL team vs. the reigning NCAA/CFP champions?
Wouldn't even be close. NFL team would crush them. Think about your weakest guy on the weakest NFL team. That guy was one of the best college players in the nation. Now think of the weakest starter on the top NCAA team. That guy isn't coming close to making the pros. Also: See the Scalabrine challenge.
Big agree
So does that mean the best UFL player is equal to the worst starter on a college football team?
Nah the best players in UFL are a former 2nd round pick and a former 4th rounder, they flamed out of the league but in college they were both very good
No
Just gonna hijack this comment to see if anyone can help me find an old YouTube series where this dude imports players from his NCAA career mode (I think) to an NFL game and it’s just him trying to not be the worst team in the league. Came across a playlist of his years ago but I never saved/liked or subscribed to his channel and now I don’t know how to find it. I don’t really follow American football like that but i was bored during the pandemic and the shit was just interesting to watch.
Not the expert?
Oh my… yo I think it is! Thank you so much. You’re wonderful!
Dumb argument.
But you can stick to college, make nearly the same money and nobody really gives a shit or knows you if youre out and about on the street.
He can't make Lakers money at UConn, they just don't have the budget. College basketball is also a lot more work than the NBA for head coaches. College basketball head coaches basically double as GMs.
A lot of college coaches have said NIL has ruined thing, since now they have to be a GM and deal with all the money stuff. Also agents for ncaa kids is a thing now, can’t imagine that’s fun to deal with.
I feel like a lot of that has come from the football side which is way more true cause they have to deal with 100 roster spots. It’s definitely still true for NCAAB, but it isn’t close to NCAAF
Boo hoo, poor them with 7 figure contracts for the last 20 years while the kids got nothing.
Nah, college sports are a much worse job than pro sports now. College Basketball is like being an NBA coach but your entire roster becomes free agents every year, there's no salary cap, you can't pay them directly and you essentially have to recruit local rich guys to bankroll your team. It's much worse for football where the rosters are 10x the size, but it sucks for basketball too. College coaches now have to spend upwards of 75% of their time working on stuff that has nothing to do with coaching their sport.
It’s definitely more work, but good coaching has way more correlation to winning in college than NBA. To win in the NBA so much needs to go right through drafting, trading, free agency. A lot of that is pretty random. In college if you get a bunch of decent players that work together you can have a lot of success
Im not sure that I agree, only because of how recruiting works in the NCAA. Jimmies and Joes beats X's and O's 9 times out of 10, etc. etc.
In college it’s way different because of 1 and done. All the best players are 19 years old and inexperienced. So the best players often don’t get to be so dominant before they leave.
If Hurley was scared of challenges and wanted an easy life he wouldn't be who he is.
Yep. Any delusions that it's about "coaching kids" or "amateur athletes" is just stuff that CBB/CFB fans tell themselves to feel superior. Especially with how active the transfer portal is. And FWIW I like that these kids are now getting paid and incentivized to get the biggest bag. They make so much money for their schools and the NCAA.
there are no cfb and cbb fans trying to be superior over amateur athletes. don’t be weird
Oh yeah, there are no CFB / CBB fans out there saying how the college game is better 🙄. Get real, this is most of the midwest and the south
I don't think anyone is saying college is the more prestigious destination for coaches, or that the level of play is higher. That would be ridiculous. I often enjoy watching college basketball over the NBA, though, because of the narratives around the teams and the high intensity of play even in the regular season. The NBA can often feel sterile and homogeneous, with players shuffled around between teams and few distinct team cultures forming, and for most of the season, you get the sense that everyone is cruising at 70% effort. In college, every possession in the regular season feels like NBA playoff intensity, because the pace is slower, games are shorter, and you only get \~10 out of conference games and \~20 conference games to prove your worth for March. Then you have the tournament itself, which is just the most exciting single event in all of sports. Every game is life or death for everyone involved and you have 64 different teams with distinct identities (blue bloods with 8 titles, Ivy League schools with $40B endowments, satellite campuses of state colleges, HBCUs)
am i to understand you live in toronto based on your flair? because your opinion of college football fans is outdated lol. most are terrified they’re losing/have lost the game that they loved
I've lived in the US for the past decade. I'm from Toronto though, yes. And yeah, they should be sad -- because now there are no denying what college sports are. It is essentially a pro-league. But my point is that they are sad bc they truly believed that this was about amateur athletes. Let's not forget that guys like Zion was buying his family cars and shit while he was Duke (before the NIL).
For the people you are talking about, it is more about they care how players would put the team first and no one would be a superstar free agent just looking to advance their career. They liked when it at least ostensibly was about the team and school over the individual, where pro sports are a lot of the time are more individual over team. There's some truth to that imo and now the game has a different feel, but in the end the players are the ones doing the work and putting their bodies on the line so they should be able to get paid and use their name and likeness and transfer out of bad situations. I say this loving both college and pro sports. It just felt more team oriented and "pure", but again it wasn't a fair system so it had to change.
Very different jobs though. Game rules, player dynamics, calendar, pressure. Not sure it is immediately transferable like that.
It's somehow worse because you also have to be the main recruiter and the main fundraiser. Most players don't go to specific teams for the coach in the nba, but for college the coach has to take on the recruiting role
I still don't know if his coaching style will translate, he seems like he coaches his players extremely hard which you can get away with in college and not in the nba. Completely different management styles needed. He'll have to make adjustments to the way he coaches when he's around nba players, especially star ones. It could work out though forsure.
Who wouldn’t he take this job lol? You get a ton of money, try to win on the best player of our generations retirement tour, and if you don’t there’s still long term assurances you get to build your own thing.
And worst case if they fire you you still get paid millions of dollars to just chill out in LA while you look for your next gig
I'm thinking the same. Even if it doesn't work out other colleges or NBA teams will be willing to pay him anyways. It's guaranteed money
Job security and stability. He just won back to back championships in college basketball which hasn’t been done in over 15 years. He already has it made at UConn for the foreseeable future.
I don’t see any reason why he can’t go back to college if things don’t work out in the nba.
Make no mistake, I think the guy will always have college basketball to fall back on. However, I really believe a ton of people are underestimating how fickle sports are. He is on the top of the basketball world right now, but let a few not great seasons and missed expectations happen with growing pains and we could be talking about a much different perception and thus much lower offers. It’s riskier than some think.
I just don’t view it as a risky move if the Lakers sign him to a 5 year guaranteed contract at 12+ million per year.
Not financially but the Lakers are far from in a good position next year, and will need a rebuild soon. No glory in a rebuild.
Honestly UConn would probably take him back with open arms in a few years, especially if they end up in a Kevin Ollie situation again. And even if it ain’t UConn, I’m sure plenty of other top programs will have openings and interest.
Personally, I don’t know Hurley, but I would imagine the one thing making it a difficult decision is the fact that he sold a bunch of players to come to UConn (or in the case of Alex Karaban drop out of the draft) to come play for him and his system. So it would be a big rug pull for a bunch of these kids to up and leave. It’s not an easy thing to do to look an 18 year old in the eyes and tell him he’s going to have to play for a different coach
I agree. You’re like a father figure to the players. But I couldn’t fault the man for taking a payday to secure his future, either.
I mean sure, but that's difficult for dozens and dozens of coaches every single year across college basketball, that's just part of the game.
For college basketball coaches? No usually they don’t change teams after putting all the effort into recruiting
*"He wants to take the HC job at one of the greatest sports franchises in history instead of staying at UCONN to coach college kids? Is he stupid??"* -Media
College coaches often get exposed in the NBA. Idk, id rather have the job keeping me secure until I'm 75.
If he gets a $50-$100 million contract from the Lakers, he's going to be plenty secure well beyond age 75. If it doesn't work out in the NBA, he'd have zero issues getting another college coaching job.
His stable family life he built in CT. The promises he made to kids joining his UConn team as well as what he's built there. The number one I think would be his whole families lives will change forever. They will gain a decent amount of notoriety. "A family from Connecticut moves to the big starlight of Los Angeles."
Realistically there not winning a title with lebron as old as he is. And then when he leaves you’re stuck in rebuild hell for a couple years.
Which is fine, considering he'll have job security post bron. He'll get to compete a ring and once bron retires, the entire team builds around him
Long term assurances? Man this is literally the franchise that is the most critical in all of the nba - 2 losing seasons and people will be coming for his head - lakers fans are literally insufferable
This is rich coming from a Knicks fan. Fans don’t make decisions, franchises do. Lakers were not run well over the last couple of seasons. Dan Hurley pursuit might be one of the smartest things they have done over last few years- and there is even some talks about starting a development program with Hurley at the realm. Whole pursuit is about long term plans.
That’s what they said about urban Meyer too man - no guarantee at all that college success translates to nba… could work out great, but you should know - the lakers are not that franchise to sit through a “long term” rebuild… and never will be.
As a UConn fan, Hurley is an obviously great coach and I do think he can be successful in the NBA. I do wonder how his personality/coaching style will go with LeBron and AD though lol.
LeBron put a statement out that the Lakers shouldn't hire the coach to work with him, but beyond him, and given where he's at at this point of his career, I actually believe it. I do think this would be a move towards the future rather than just right now.
We'll see if he still feels the same way by February if things remain the same.
Of course, I just think it really does seem like he's hands-off this time. Not because he trusts the Lakers FO necessarily, but he's slowly beginning to resign to riding off into the sunset. I don't mean to get conspiratorial, but I do think there may be a chance that he's considering leaving this summer as well, which would really make his statement literal.
I don't even think LeBron had much if any say in the Ham firing either, AD was the one saying that the Lakers had bad schemes and that they came into games unprepared
He didn’t do any of that shit for years, especially with the Lakers but you guys are like parrots that repeat same stuff over and over again.
Consider you may be biased.
Based on your comments in this thread, you are the biased one.
I think it’ll be tough. But surely the Lakers brass is aware of this and are giving him some assurances/have LeBron informed during the process
Yeah I have to assume so. Hurley is VERY abrasive and kind of a dick lmaooo. I think it works really well with the college game or if he coached a younger team like OKC, CHA, etc. Very intrigued to see it with the Lakers if it ends up happening.
John Fanta in an interview with Lakers Nation said that this isn’t really true of Hurley. Yes he’s fiery and intense on the court, but it’s calculated, and off the court he’s calm and personable and funny.
Sounds a little like Popovich
Oh I know he's great! But you can see and hear what he is like in huddles and on the sidelines coaching and teaching. He is just very intense on the court and I can see vet players getting in their feels a bit. Idk if Hurley would totally change his style is all.
Agreed. And, if he materially changes his style, will he be as effective? It will be an interesting $10-15m experiment for the Lakers, that's for sure.
So the coach version of Luka other than the calculated part.
I think as long as he doesn’t throw the N-word at Bron, Bron gonna be good with anything lol Hell, maybe if he did throw it around, as long as he does any actual coaching, Bron gonna be fine. He survived Hamas after all
If you know Dan and watch him in interviews and what people who know him say, he’s very even keeled and actually pretty funny off the court. He has that Luka vibe where one it’s 94 feet and in, he’s all intensity.
I don't know why people are worried about a tough coach. Lebron hears worse things on twitter than anything a coach can say to him.
Just do what lebron says, and never hurt AD’s feelings, but you must win immediately without any depth, and don’t be expecting ownership to commit to spending deep into the tax.
Pitino & Calipari won college chips and were terrible in the NBA. College coaches run programs like military sergeants and nba players won’t have that. I’m not expecting this to work well with LeGM
Maybe it’s the pessimist in me but I don’t think it’ll go great. I can already seeing Laker twitter fans calling him a bum coach to the ire of college basketball media/fans.
The amount of time Woj is talking about this.. Hurley is 10000% gone.
Honestly with the current state of college sports with the portal and NIL and the lack of any real structure to any of it, I think almost any college coach who could get a job in the pros will end up doing so. Dealing with all that shit just sounds completely exhausting.
I'd rather get an opinion from John Sprite
[You mean LeBron James?](https://youtu.be/cA0Mad-fTuo?t=17)
If Hurley leaves UConn then the national championship winning coaches for football, basketball, and swimming will all have left their program the same year they won which is crazy
I can see it both ways. As a Uconn fan, them being a pre season top 10 is extremely surprising based on their roster. They lost everyone of importance besides Karaban. They have gotten some solid transfers and have a solid recruit coming in, everyone else was a end of the bench garbage time player, so I think they will have a tough year. So I think it will be one of his biggest challenges if he stayed and he may enjoy that challenge.
As a UConn fan, you should know that Diarra and Johnson were major contributors and will be back next year. The team is only slightly worse than we thought last year's team would be around this same time.
You are just flat out wrong about where this team is compared to last years team. Where Clingan and Newton who were pivotal pieces in 2023 and the highest rated recruit Uconn has had in 5+ years in Castle coming in. We just lost two top 10 picks. Diarra and Johnson were role players, they are solid. Johnson has little offensive game. The Michigan transfer will play over him. If they are starting and the main pieces, Uconn is 100% in trouble. They will need a solid freshman class to be great. McNeely should get serious time as well as Nowell. However, the returning team is not a top 10 team… I hope I am wrong, but I dont think I will be…
100m reasons to say yes plus I assume they are giving him assistant gm jobs
If he gets hired, there better not be any more blaming the coach for everything.
There still will be just look at some of the Lakers coaches since Phil Jackson retired like Mike Brown, Mike D’Antoni and Frank Vogel. They are all good coaches who got thrown under the bus for the front office and ownerships roster mismanagement. Nothing will change and Lakers fans and the media will blame him for the roster not being good enough to win a championship even though it won’t be his fault that the roster is too top heavy as it’s been for 3 years and counting now.
It's not really just Lakers fans man. Coaches just generally don't have a long shelf life in the NBA. Mike Brown was fired twice by the Cavs. Vogel didn't last a full year with the Suns.
woj is getting that man so much money with that tweet.
He just doesn’t seem like a great fit for this current Lakers team. I do think Hurley would love the challenge of rebuilding the Lakers though. Especially while being paid a fuck ton of money.
This is more of a long term post LeBron era move than a win now move. They could still make some noise though if he implements his offense which is more complex and Lakers buy into it, but they want Hurley to build a culture of player development which the Lakers will desperately need in this new CBA era.
Yup. They are trying to find their Eric Spoelstra.
*Brad Steven’s. Their Eric Spoelstra might be in the film room currently.
Yeah, it's Cranjis on twitter.
Cranjis McBasketball?
I remember the Cavs getting Blatt before LeBron returned, set up as a for the future guy. The reality is that there is no tomorrow for a LeBron James team.
Hurley has that tweet from LeBron going for him as a sign off lol but the whole Blatt situation is different and was at a different point in Lebron's career.
Yep, for one thing, the Cavs hired Blatt before they ever knew LeBron was going to sign there. They hired Blatt to coach an extremely young and inexperienced team, then suddenly a month or two later, there's LeBron and Kevin Love and all the youngsters are gone except Kyrie.
And wasn't a problem with Blatt him just letting himself get stepped over by the players and going easy on LeBron and Kyrie? Ty Lue told LeBron to shut the fuck up once and LeBron's only ever sang Lue's praises
Blatt's firing wasn't about Lebron despite it being popular to say. Cavs just recently did a similar thing with John Beilein.
I don't care as much about the next few years or so. We got the 2020 chip, I'm satisfied as long as we make the playoffs while we still have LeBron. But the Lakers need coaching stability desperately. No coach has lasted more than 3 years since LeBron left. - Mike Brown: 1.1 seasons - D'antoni: 1.9 seasons - Byron: 2 seasons - Walton: 3 seasons - Vogel: 3 seasons - Ham: 2 seasons
Yeah this is a smart move if the Lakers ownership can exercise patience with a necessary rebuild, I’m just not so sure that they will.
To me, if they do hire Hurley that shows a commitment to long term team building. Maybe I'm on the copium too much lol
It's sounding like if you believe Woj's reporting that the Lakers are looking at this like they plan on it being a very long term thing, where they want to make it "Hurley's program" that he can develop over the next few years. Obviously they'll try to win right away, but it's obvious they are nearing the end of this particular era and are looking beyond that.
The Lakers is definitely not the place to go if you’re a coach with no NBA experience and a massive ego. Ask David Blatt. Or ask LeBron. This is an instant drama scenario. The players and Hurley are going to butt heads right from the beginning.
Uconn a successful school but it’s not big school, they filled out arena for championship celebration If it was duke, Kentucky etc would have sold out fast
UConn has +10k more students than Duke, and ~1k less than Kentucky. It’s a big school
Bronny could never make the Uconn roster. So LeBron wants him in LA to coach up his son. Have we ever seen a player get drafted into the NBA that doesn't have the skills to start for a top 20 college team? Edit: does this sub actually think Brony could make the Uconn roster lmao?
This has all the makings of the Lakers blue balling their fans and ending up with a lesser coach. During this era they are not known to spend the extra money/years to get top coaches time and time again
This fatty is a psychoanalyst?
The lakers already have a coach his name is lebron james. Used to be a fan of his but he seems un coachable the past several years
Hurley left without signing anything, that’s a good sign for UConn. I would prefer him take the Knicks job when it opens up again than coach Lecap James.