Dan Hurley has reportedly decided not to take the Los Angeles Lakers' head coaching job.
Hurley, who has won back-to-back collegiate national championships at UConn, turned down a six-year, $70million contract to coach the Lakers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The deal would've made him one of the NBA's highest-paid coaches.
UConn is now reportedly planning to make him the highest-paid collegiate coach.
BREAKING: Connecticut’s Dan Hurley has turned down the Los Angeles Lakers’ six-year, $70 million offer and will return to chase a third straight national title, sources tell ESPN. LA would’ve made him one of NBA’s six highest paid coaches. pic.twitter.com/hEXo3o00SR
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2024
Hurley reportedly was the Lakers' top choice for their head coaching vacancy following the firing of Darvin Ham after the team was eliminated from the play-offs in the first round.
The position of being head coach of the Lakers is one of the most high-profile basketball jobs on the planet - and includes coaching one of the greatest players in the sport's history in LeBron James - but Hurley will stay at UConn, where he has gone 68-11 over the past two seasons with a pair of championships.
By staying at UConn, Hurley will now try to achieve something that's only been done once before and that's win three straight men's national titles. UCLA is the only men's program to accomplish that feat, winning seven in a row from 1967-73.
Hurley has led the Huskies to a 141-58 record in his six seasons at UConn. He signed a $32.1million, six-year deal a year ago after leading the program to the 2023 national title.
With Hurley no longer in the fold, TV analyst and former player JJ Redick, as well as New Orleans Pelicans assistant James Borrego are reportedly the top candidates for the Lakers.
