University of Connecticut Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Head Coach
A proven program-builder and one of the great winners in modern college basketball, Dan Hurley was named the 19th head coach in UConn men’s basketball history prior on March 22, 2018. During his first seven years in Storrs he has revitalized the program and cemented its blue blood status with the first back-to-back titles in Husky history, climbing the mountaintop in both 2023 and 2024.
The face of college basketball, Hurley has captivated the nation during UConn’s historic run with his colorful personality and fiery competitiveness. Hurley led the Huskies to a modern era NCAA Tournament-record 13-straight wins from 2023-25 and won all 12 games during the back-to-back title runs by double-figures – an NCAA record.
Basketball was always Hurley’s destiny, born into basketball royalty on Jan. 16, 1973 in Jersey City, N.J. His father, Bob Hurley Sr., is a Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame member and the architect of one of the great high school dynasties of all-time at St. Anthony’s in Jersey City. Hurley played at St. Anthony’s along with his older brother Bobby – a two-time national champion at Duke widely considered the greatest point guard in NCAA history.
Hurley has been a collegiate head coach since 2010 and holds a record of 316-174 (.645) in his 15 seasons at the helm of Wagner (2010-12), Rhode Island (2012-18) and Connecticut (2018-pres.). At his three stops he has improved each program’s win total by an average of seven games between year one and year two – taking out first seasons at each program, his record sits at 279-119 and his winning percentage at .701.
In seven seasons at Connecticut, Hurley has compiled a 165-69 record (.705) including a 69-27 (.719) mark in BIG EAST play. He steadily improved the team’s winning percentage in each of his first five seasons until the Huskies won a program-record 37 games and went 37-3 in his sixth season in 2023-24. Hurley has led the last Huskies to the last five NCAA Tournaments, tying a program record. In 2025 UConn won its 13th-straight NCAA Tournament game to equal Duke’s 1991-93 streak for the longest in modern tournament history.
At UConn, Hurley has mentored a total of nine NBA players (pre-2025 Draft), including four lottery picks. Over seven seasons in Storrs he has developed two All-Americans, eight First Team All-Conference picks, two Freshman of the Year winners and a Bob Cousy Award winner.
The Huskies won the 2024 BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament titles, earning Hurley 2024 BIG EAST Coach of the Year honors. Hurley was the second-fastest coach in BIG EAST history to 50 wins, coming in his 70th conference game and trailing only John Thompson, Jr. (67 games). He was also the second coach to ever recorded 10 league wins in each of his first five seasons coaching the conference, joining Jamie Dixon.
Hurley was named the 2024 Naismith College Coach of the Year – the first men’s coach to win the honor in UConn history. His father previously won the Naismith High School Coach of the Year, making them the first father-son duo to earn Naismith Coach of the Year laurels. He is a two-time NABC District Coach of the Year and won the 2018 Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year.
Known for innovative offense, physical and hard-nosed defense and a relentless effort level Hurley’s teams are consistently among the national leaders on both ends of the floor. His defensive units have cracked the top-75 in Kenpom in 13 of his 15 seasons and have been top-30 five times, peaking at Nos. 4 and 7 in the 2024 and 2023 title years, respectively. Offensively he has not produced a unit outside of the top-85 since 2017 and has posted three-straight seasons with a top-15 offense, including the No. 1 offense in the country in 2024.
The 2024-25 Huskies returned only one starter from the ’24 title team but peaked at No. 2 in the early season polls, before a now-infamous run at Maui. UConn bounced back and picked up marquee early-season wins over top-15 foes in Baylor and Gonzaga to position themselves well heading into BIG EAST play.
Connecticut finished third in the BIG EAST after going 14-6 in conference action, including its first ever win at Creighton, and earned its fifth-straight bid to the Big Dance as an eight-seed. A first-round win over nine-seed Oklahoma set the 13-game win streak record, and the Huskies pushed eventual national champion and top seed Florida to the brink in a 77-75 heartbreaker. Alex Karaban and Solo Ball were both feted as All-BIG EAST Second Team picks follow the season, while Liam McNeeley was named 2025 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and Tarris Reed Jr. earned the league’s Sixth Man Award.
The 2023-24 Huskies were one of the best teams in the history of college basketball. UConn won a program-record 37 games, a BIG EAST-record 18 conference games and championships at the Empire Classic, BIG EAST Tournament, NCAA East Regional and NCAA Final Four. The Huskies finished a staggering 37-3 with winning streaks of 14 games (Dec. 23-Feb. 17) and 13 games (Feb. 24-end of season).
The Huskies went 18-2 in the BIG EAST to win the regular season championship by a full four games and ran through the BIG EAST Tournament as its one seed, tipping Marquette in the final in a rematch of a 2023 Semifinal. The regular season title was UConn’s first outright since 1999 and the tournament was its first since 2011. A slew of Huskies earned All-League honors following the historic; Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer were First Team picks, Donovan Clingan earned an Honorable Mention nod, Stephon Castle was the unanimous Freshman of the Year and Hassan Diarra earned the Sixth Man Award.
UConn earned the No. 1 overall seed for the first time in program history and left no doubt in its run to the Final Four in Phoenix, winning its first four games of March by an average of 27.8 points per game. In the East Regional final against Illinois, UConn took a 23-23 game late in the first half and flipped on its head with an iconic 30-0 run in the eventual 77-752 victory.
In the Final Four at Statefarm Stadium, UConn took down Alabama and its high-powered offense before meeting Purdue in a clash of the top-two seeds in the field. UConn took control early in the second half and grinding the Boilermakers down, cruising to a 75-60 victory. It was Connecticut’s 12th-straight win in the NCAA Tournament by double-figures, a March Madness record.
Following the success of the ’23-24 season, Hurley was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year and the 2024 Naismith College Coach of the Year. He joined Bob Sr., the 2008 Naismith High School Coach of the Year., as the only father-son duo to each win a Naismith Coach of the Year. He guided Tristen Newton to a consensus First Team All-America selection and the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard. Following the season UConn saw Stephon Castle go No. 4 overall in the NBA Draft, Donovan Clingan go No. 7 and Newton and Cam Spencer both selected in the second round. It was the second time in program history the Huskies had four players selected in the same draft, joining 2006.
In 2022-23, UConn raced out to a 14-0 start to set the stage for Hurley’s first title trip. In addition to marquee non-conference wins over Oklahoma State and at Florida the Huskies swept a run at the Phil Knight Invitational, notching signature wins over Oregon, Alabama and Iowa State. The Huskies ascended to No. 2 in the national polls before their first setback in early January.
After a tumultuous January that included a 2-6 stretch, the Huskies began to regain their form with a top-10 win over Marquette on Feb. 7. Connecticut closed the regular season with five-straight wins and advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals, where it dropped a two-point decision to the eventual champion Marquette. Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins both earned First Team All-BIG EAST honors following the campaign.
UConn was slotted as the No. 5 seed in the West Region and drew Iona in the first round. Despite trailing at half, the Huskies exploded late for an 87-63 and then topped Saint Mary’s to advance to the West Regional in Las Vegas. The Sin City was kind to the Huskies, as they roared past Arkansas 88-65 in Sweet 16 before blowing Gonzaga away, 82-54, in the Regional Final to advance to the Final Four in Houston. Hawkins was named Most Outstanding Player of the West Regional.
It was at NRG Stadium where Hurley first ascended to the mountaintop of the sport, defeating Miami, 72-59, in the National Semifinals before topping San Diego State by a score of 76-59 to claim Connecticut’s fifth national title. Adama Sanogo was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player after averaging a double-double in the big dance.
The 2021-22 season was marked by huge moments and UConn’s second-straight NCAA Tournament bid. In a loaded field at the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Huskies won the game of the tournament with a 115-109 double overtime win over a top-20 foe in Auburn. UConn went on to go 13-6 in the BIG EAST that included season sweeps of Marquette and St. John’s. The most seminal moment of the season and a turning point in the Hurley era came in a top-10 win over Villanova at the XL Center – one Hurley was ejected from in the first half. Both R.J. Cole and Adama Sanogo earned First Team All-BIG EAST honors.
Connecticut advanced to its second-straight BIG EAST Semifinal before succumbing to the Wildcats – a squad that would go on to win the tournament and reach the Final Four. The Huskies earned a five-seed in the NCAA Tournament but bowed out to New Mexico State in a first round upset.
UConn began its streak of five-straight tournament bids in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. The Huskies went 15-8 in the stop-and-start schedule and finished 11-6 in their first season back in the BIG EAST. James Bouknight was an All-BIG EAST First Team before going on to be an NBA lottery pick. The Huskies earned a No. 7 in the ‘bubble’ NCAA Tournament and fell to Maryland in the first round. It was Hurley’s first tournament bid at Connecticut and his third as a collegiate head coach.
In 2019-20, the Huskies posted the program’s first winning season (19-12), the most overall victories, and the most conference wins in four years and, when the season was abruptly stopped by the pandemic, UConn was on a five-game winning streak to close the regular season and had major momentum heading into the American Athletic Conference Championship.
Hurley came to UConn following six years at Rhode Island, where he took a program that went 7-23 in the season before he arrived to a combined 51-18 mark and two NCAA Tournament appearances in his final two years, URI’s first NCAA appearances in 18 years. In each year, Hurley guided the Rams to a first-round NCAA tourney victory.
In 2017-18, Hurley’s URI team posted a 26-8 record, the most wins by a Rams team in eight years, which included a 16-game winning streak, the second-longest in school history. Rhode Island swept to the Atlantic 10 regular-season title with a 15-3 mark, and spent seven weeks ranked in the national polls, rising as high as No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches poll. Earning a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, URI defeated Oklahoma in the first round before bowing to second-seeded Duke. Hurley was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, earned his second USBWA District I Coach of the Year Award and sent two of his players to NBA teams, Jared Terrell to the Timberwolves and E.C. Matthews to the Grizzlies.
The previous season, Hurley took Rhode Island to a 25-10 record, earning an automatic NCAA tourney bid by capturing the Atlantic 10 Championship. The 11th-seeded Rams upset sixth-seeded Creighton in the NCAA first round before suffering a three-point loss to No. 3 seed Oregon.
Despite a rash of injuries that decimated his 2015-16 team, Hurley still managed to post a winning 17-15 record and place his team among the national leaders in scoring defense, allowing just 64.8 points per game. That followed a banner 23-10 season in 2014-15, during which URI led the nation in three-point percentage defense (.265) and ranked ninth in overall defensive efficiency. That team put Rhody back in the national picture, earning an NIT berth and reaching the second round before losing to eventual NIT champion Stanford, bringing Hurley his first USBWA District I Coach of the Year Award.
In his six seasons in Rhode Island, Hurley’s teams were a combined 113-82 (.579), but an even more impressive 91-43 (.679) with two NCAA appearances and an NIT berth during his last four years.
Before his tenure in Kingston, Hurley spent two years at his first Division I head coaching job at Wagner College in the Northeast Conference. Taking over a program that had just five wins in 2009-10, Hurley immediately upped the win total to 13 in his first season of 2010-11 and nearly doubled that total to a 25-6 mark in 2011-12. His overall record in the Northeast Conference was 24-12.
Wagner was not Hurley’s first college basketball coaching experience. After graduating from Seton Hall in 1996 and spending a season as an assistant coach under his father at St. Anthony, he was hired as an assistant coach at Rutgers and remained there for four years. When Rutgers decided to change coaching staffs, Hurley opted to go back to the high school level and took over the basketball program at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J., in 2001.
It was at St. Benedict’s, where he also taught history, that Hurley maintains he really learned his craft, building the program into a national prep school powerhouse. In nine seasons, Hurley compiled a sterling 223-21 record, with four Top Five finishes in the national rankings. He coached four McDonald’s All-Americans as well as future NBA players J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson, and Lance Thomas.
Born on Jan. 16, 1973 and raised in in Jersey City, Hurley was an outstanding high school player at St. Anthony, leading the team to a 31-1 record and a No. 2 national ranking as a senior. At Seton Hall, he played under head coaches P.J. Carlesimo and George Blaney, amassing career totals of 1,070 points and 437 assists and helped the Pirates to three NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT berth during his career. Following his graduation in 1996, Hurley went directly into coaching, joining his father at St. Anthony for one year before heading into the college ranks at Rutgers.
Dan and wife Andrea, who met while both were attending Seton Hall, are the parents of two sons, Danny, also a Seton Hall graduate, and Andrew, a two-time national champion member of the basketball team and graduate manager at UConn.
THE DAN HURLEY COACHING FILE
1996-97 – St. Anthony’s – Assistant Coach
1997-01 – Rutgers – Assistant Coach
2001-10 – St. Benedict’s Prep – Head Coach (223-21)
2010-11 Wagner 13-17 9-9 NEC
2011-12 Wagner 25-6 15-3 NEC
38-23 24-12 NEC
2012-13 Rhode Island 8-21 3-13 A-10
2013-14 Rhode Island 14-18 5-11 A-10
2014-15 Rhode Island 23-10 13-5 A-10 NIT second round
2015-16 Rhode Island 17-15 9-9 A-10
2016-17 Rhode Island 25-10 13-5 A-10 NCAA second round
2017-18 Rhode Island 26-8 15-3 A-10 NCAA second round
113-82 58-46 A-10
2018-19 UConn 16-17 6-12 AAC
2019-20 UConn 19-12 10-8 AAC
2020-21 UConn 15-8 11-6 BE NCAA first round
2021-22 UConn 23-10 13-6 BE NCAA first round
2022-23 UConn 31-8 13-7 BE NCAA champs
2023-24 UConn 37-3 18-2 BE NCAA champs
2024-25 UConn 24-11 14-6 BE NCAA second round
165-69 16-20 AAC
69-27 BE
College head coaching record (15 seasons): 316-174
UConn record (7 seasons): 165-69
NCAA Tournament record (7 appearances): 15-5
NIT Record (1 appearance): 1-1
2024 Naismith College Coach of the Year
2024 BIG EAST Coach of the Year
2018 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
2018 USWBA District I Coach of the Year
2015 USBWA District I Coach of the Year
