University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Northwestern
Coaching Legacies Collide In Round Of 32
3/23/2024 10:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By PHIL CHARDIS
Special to uconnhuskies.com
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – When it comes to coaching legacies, few opponents ever have an advantage over the UConn men's basketball team. Not many teams can match the lifelong pedigree in the game of UConn Coach Dan Hurley, with father Bob Hurley Sr., a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, as the patriarch.
But UConn's opponent in the second round of the NCAA Tournament can at least make a claim.
Northwestern Coach Chris Collins, like Hurley, was born into basketball, tutored by his father, four-time NBA All-Star Doug Collins, who went on to coach four different NBA teams.
Dan Hurley is 51. Chris Collins will be 50 next month. Hurley is in his 14th season as a Division I head coach, Collins is in his 11th season. Hurley resurrected a struggling program at UConn, took the Huskies to the Promised Land last season and has them 32-3 this season as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Collins took over a down Northwestern program and has made slow and steady progress, but the last two seasons has a combined 44-23 record and has earned two consecutive NCAA berths for the first time in program history. Collins was even a teammate of Hurley's brother, Bob Jr., at Duke.
Sunday night, the legacies clash, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament East Region, as the top-seeded Huskies (32-3) meet the ninth-seeded Wildcats (22-11), at Barclays Center with a berth to the Sweet 16 on the line.
"Besides my brother, I don't think there's a coach in our game that I could relate to more than Chris, especially the way our two dads coached," Hurley said. "I mean, our dads poured every part of themselves and coached with such incredible emotion, passion, intensity. Watching his dad at games get so emotional and knowing how my dad feels at my games … I think we're so similar in so many ways, it feels like you're kind of looking in the mirror."
Collins almost feels as if he is part of the Hurley family.
"Danny and I have known each other forever," Collins said. "I played with Bobby in college, so I've known the Hurley family since I've been 18 years old and they have been nothing but great to me. I recruited some of Danny's guys when he was a high school coach (St. Benedict's) and he and I have always been very good friends."
"I think we have a lot of similarities," he added. "Both of us grew up around basketball, we're coaches' kids, so I've always enjoyed talking to him. We've had similar upbringings and we kind of coach in a similar manner. To have an opportunity to compete against this program and this team, which to me has been as good as any in the country over the the last couple of years is going to be a great ho and definitely a challenge that is going to be tough for us."
UConn rolled over Stetson, 91-52, in the tourney's first round on Friday, while Northwestern went to overtime before defeating Florida Atlantic. Sunday's winner advances to the Sweet 16, meeting either San Diego State or Yale at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday.
"I'm really happy for Chris' success," Hurley said. "He's one of the great guys in our business."
The similar backgrounds, similar styles, and similar philosophies will clash in Brooklyn.
