An unusually long summer of negotiations has paid off for UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley.
Paid off to the tune of nearly $18 million, that is.
The school announced a new six-year, $50 million contract for Hurley on Monday. It completely replaces his old deal, a six-year, $32.1 million contract he agreed to last summer. Only Kansas coach Bill Self, at $9.6 million annually, makes more in men’s college ball.
But that was before Hurley cemented himself as the present-day king of men’s college basketball, winning a second straight national title in dominant fashion this spring. And it was before a very public offer from the Lakers, which was ultimately reported to be six years, $70 million.
“Obviously we had a little bit more of a roller coaster ride because of the Lakers piece,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said when announcing the deal Monday.
Both Hurley and the Lakers were accused at times of using the other for leverage during their purported courtship. When Hurley finally spurned L.A. on June 10, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst wrote that “the question is whether Hurley’s interest was ever real.”
Hurley vigorously denied the allegations and said last month that the deal announced Monday has been all but finished for some time.
“One of the worst takes I’ve heard is that this is a leverage play by me to improve my situation at UConn,” Hurley told Dan Le Batard.
“I’ve had a contract in place here for a couple of weeks. And the final part, in terms of salary, has been done for a while. There are some other parts, like NIL and staff salary and some different things, that I want adjusted and I’m not comfortable with. But the sense of the idea that this was some conspiracy to get me a sweeter deal at UConn is just, it’s lazy.”
The Lakers ultimately hired podcaster and ESPN analyst JJ Redick to a four-year, $32 million deal.
Hurley’s continued presence is a moneymaker for collectives, players, and his assistant coaches, who all reportedly signed new deals Monday as well. And it probably didn’t hurt the Big East in media negotiations, where it recently netted a new, six-year deal with Fox, TNT, and NBC. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.
