• Loading stock data...
Monday, June 16, 2025

Hurley: UConn Would Be Powerhouse Even Without a Return to the Big East

  • In many ways, the team’s rebirth aligned its return to its conference of yore.
  • The Huskies would have come to dominate the men’s game whether they were duking it out in the Big East or still languishing in the AAC.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

By the time UConn announced it would rejoin the Big East for the 2020–21 season, the program had fallen into a period of irrelevance. The Huskies, toiling in the American Athletic Conference, hadn’t won a national championship since 2014, and hadn’t even reached the NCAA tournament since 2016. 

In many ways, the team’s rebirth aligns with the return to its conference of yore. (After all, programs move away from conferences for two reasons: to get rich and, by proxy, get better.) When the realignment announcement came in the summer of 2019, Dan Hurley (above, right) had just finished his first season as the head coach in Storrs. In 2021, their first year back in the Big East, the Huskies made their first NCAA tournament in half a decade. In 2023, they won the national title, and are going for the repeat in Phoenix on Monday night—a feat accomplished by only seven other men’s teams in history. 

But when Front Office Sports asked whether his program would have reached this level of dominance if it hadn’t rejoined the Big East, he leaned forward into the microphone and said, “Absolutely.” 

“We would be where we were regardless.” 

Hurley acknowledged that the move “certainly helped,” and he’s made plenty of comments suggesting he’s much happier with UConn in its current conference than its former one. The Big East’s intense competition really kept the team sharp—Hurley likened the Huskies’ journey to that of Kelvin Sampson and Houston, who moved from the AAC to the Big 12 just this year and led the Cougars to a conference title and Sweet 16 berth. (Hurley has spent most of the postseason reiterating how he believed the conference deserved at least three more bids than it received.)

But the 2024 Naismith National Coach of the Year said that by the time ’20 rolled around, the program was already recruiting “at a very, very high level.” He also said they had the “best staff in the country” at the time. 

From a financial standpoint, UConn isn’t getting rich in the Big East, either. In the AAC, the school could expect somewhere between $8 million and $10 million in annual revenue distributions, according to recent tax filings. In its new conference, the athletic department receives no more than $5 million. (The Big East is in the midst of negotiating a new, and potentially more lucrative, media-rights deal, and talks are going well, commissioner Val Ackerman told reporters during the conference’s tournament.) The school has, however, been able to cut down a multimillion-dollar budget deficit in its new home. 

Ultimately, the conference should be thanking them, he said. “We’ve also had a big impact on the Big East.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

MLB Balls Are ‘Different’ This Season, per Andrew McCutchen

Scoring is down a touch across the league this season.

USMNT–Pulisic Drama Hits Gold Cup as FIFA’s Club World Cup Looms

The Gold Cup is being played at the same time as FIFA’s Club World Cup.

NBA Offseason Begins During Finals As Magic Trade Huge Package For Bane

Orlando is sending four first-round picks to Memphis for the star guard.

Featured Today

Dec 5, 2024; Miami, FL, USA; FIFA president Gianni Infantino presents the FIFA Club World Cup trophy during the Club Word Cup draw at Telemundo Studios.

Revamped Club World Cup Is FIFA’s Billion-Dollar Gamble

The revamped soccer event debuts amid controversy.
Jun 10, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino stands during the anthem against the Switzerland during the first at Geodis Park
June 14, 2025

Gold Cup Is Complicated for USMNT—but U.S. Soccer Has Its Eyes on..

Uncertain tournament success isn’t fazing forward-looking U.S. soccer.
Jan 24, 2017; Davidson, NC, USA; The Davidson Wildcats student section cheers during the first half against the Duquesne Dukes at McKillop Court at John M. Belk Arena. Davidson defeated Duquesne 74-60.
June 6, 2025

Every College Wants a Flashy Basketball GM Hire Right Now

The role is more important than ever, and the definition is ever-evolving.
August 31, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; The Goodyear blimp flies over Ohio Stadium during the first half of Saturday’s NCAA Division I football game between the Akron Zips and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
June 6, 2025

Why the Goodyear Blimp Is at Every Major Sports Event

The airship wasn’t built to cover sports. Now it’s a regular presence.
Jun 14, 2025; Omaha, Neb, USA; LSU Tigers starting pitcher Kade Anderson (32) pitches against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the seventh inning at Charles Schwab Field.

How College Athlete Buyouts Could Work in the Revenue-Sharing Era

The buyouts could put both players and schools at a disadvantage.
UT
June 12, 2025

Zakai Zeigler Denied Injunction for Fifth Year at Tennessee

The former Tennessee guard sued the NCAA over potential lost NIL earnings.
Texas' Sam Hurley watches the announcement of the competitors in the high jump at the 2023 NCAA outdoor track and field championships, June 9, 2023 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
June 16, 2025

Revenue-Sharing Model Could Boost Programs in Football’s Shadow

“We’re not getting paid the millions of dollars that football is.”
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Ted Leonsis unpacks basketball’s global rise, media rights, and portfolio ownership.
North Dakota Fighting Hawks guard Zach Kraft (1) shoots the ball on Friday, March 7, 2025, at Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.
June 12, 2025

House v. NCAA Settlement Is Here. Non-Power Conference Schools Still Have Questions

D-I administrators still have questions they haven’t gotten answered.
Mar 7, 2025; Greenville, SC, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores guard Leilani Kapinus (5) looks to pass against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the second half at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
June 11, 2025

Group of Women Athletes Files Appeal of House v. NCAA Settlement Approval

It’s the first appeal of the landmark settlement, which was approved Friday.
Ohio State
June 10, 2025

Men’s College Basketball Adds Coach’s Challenge, but No Quarters—Yet

The NBA adopted the challenge rule before the 2019–20 season. 
U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) asks a question during at a House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education hearing on antisemitism in K-12 schools on May 8, 2024 in Washington.
June 10, 2025

House Reps Introduce Two Drafts of Pro-NCAA College Sports Legislation

Both bills would satisfy the NCAA and power conferences’ congressional wishlist.