Dan Hurley has a story to tell, and this fall, the whole basketball world will likely read about it. The UConn men’s basketball coach, already a two-time NCAA champion, announced in February that his new book, Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes to Be Great, is out now.
Hurley plans to take it on the road, promoting it hard in the weeks before the 2025 season. The book addresses perhaps one of the biggest decisions of Hurley’s life: turning down the NBA for UConn. He rejected the offer despite ignoring his dad’s advice to take it. But why? Why’d he turn down one of the league’s most storied franchises to stay with the Huskies?
Why Did Dan Hurley Ignore His Father Bob Hurley’s Advice and Pass on the NBA for Loyalty?
When Hurley sat down with CBS Sports College Basketball, the conversation turned to one of the book’s standout stories. Analyst Jon Rothstein asked Hurley about the offer he received in the summer of 2024, when the Lakers came calling with a six-year, $70 million offer.
In the book, the UConn coach reveals an interesting conversation he had with his father, Rothstein reveals. Hurley’s dad, Robert Hurley, the Naismith Hall of Famer who built St. Anthony High School into one of the greatest dynasties in basketball history, wanted his son to take the offer. “You have to go,” Robert told Hurley.
However, Hurley knows his dad’s track record, and he took a moment to think. As Hurley explained in the interview, “The thing with my dad is, at different points in my career, and I think with Bob [Dan’s brother] too, in coaching, he’s advised us to make the move or to take the bigger job. And he never did.”
Robert coached at St. Anthony from 1967 to 2017, the school’s last season. Despite being considered one of the top 10 high school basketball coaches in the United States and having received multiple offers, Robert never left.
“The one thing I don’t listen to Rob Hurley Sr. about is how to advance my career… I always took any of my dad’s advice on career advancement with a heavy grain of salt, because he never left,” Hurley added.
Loyalty is more than a buzzword in the Hurley clan. It’s a foundation of their approach to coaching. Hurley’s brother Bob also seems to live by it. Bob has been coaching at Arizona State since 2015 and has a record of 168–151.
In fact, Hurley has been preaching loyalty to his roster in an era when the transfer portal and NIL deals tempt players to jump ship. UConn guard Solo Ball summed it up perfectly when he said, “Our loyalty to him is definitely unmatched. Championship culture is much more than basketball.”
What Made Staying at UConn Worth More Than $70 Million?
Of course, this wasn’t just about sentiment. UConn was already negotiating to make him one of the NCAA’s highest-paid coaches, with Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont vowing to keep him at the top.
Soon after the rejection, Hurley signed a six-year, $50 million deal with UConn. Hurley could have taken over one of the most coveted franchises in pro sports and even coached LeBron James, but he simply would not leave his team behind.
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Beyond the loyalty factor, Hurley had a team chasing history at UConn. The Huskies had a 68-11 record back then and were coming off two title-winning seasons. They were trying to catch up to UCLA, which had won seven NCAA championships in a row from 1967 through 1973.
Last season, while UConn did not win the NCAA title, they did manage to end their season with a 24-11 record. Hurley built UConn from the ground up and made it a juggernaut, much like his father did at St. Anthony. Hurley’s record with the Huskies stands at 165–69, and that winning number keeps climbing.
Now, with a reinvigorated purpose in Storrs, Hurley is ready to keep leading the way for the Huskies.