Dan Hurley's desperation a driving force behind UConn’s return to national title stage

Dan Hurley hugs his son, Andrew, after UConn’s national championship victory last year. The two have another chance to make history together Monday as Huskies play Purdue in title game. (Photo by Bob Donnan/USA Today Sports Images)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — As he now stands 40 minutes from becoming the first coach in 17 years to lead his team to consecutive national championships, Dan Hurley has run the gamut of emotions during UConn’s latest NCAA Tournament run.

One particular trait has pervaded the tough Jersey City facade of the Huskies’ leader, though, as UConn battles Purdue Monday night for the right to stand atop the college basketball mountain:

Desperation.

“I think the desperation level, of him and the coaching staff, has been completely off the charts,” Hurley’s son, Andrew, a senior walk-on guard, revealed. “The desperation of wanting to win, living and dying with every possession, every war, is something that’s just been amped up. I think he’s always had a crazy amount of desperation. The need to win is something he’s demonstrated anywhere that he’s been, but I think just the improvement of coaching has kind of taken that next step.”

The elder Hurley confessed in part to that, admitting the opportunity to still be playing and still be working is something that continues to drive him while most of his counterparts have already geared up for the whirlwind of the transfer portal.

“My biggest motivation, really for the last two, three weeks, is I just don’t want to deal with the portal shit,” Dan candidly stated, breaking into a smile. That’s why we’re trying to win so hard right now. I’m seeing what other people are doing, and it’s chaos. I can hide behind, ‘hey, my season’s still going on!’”

When addressing reporters at the beginning of the season during Big East media day, the coach first posited that he felt a void shortly after UConn defeated San Diego State for the national championship last year, expressing a desire to start recruiting and begin the offseason process with his team. His son validated that feeling, also citing the insatiable desire to be the best as another piece of wood on the proverbial competitive fire.

“We barely had any time to really relax,” Andrew Hurley said in the wake of UConn’s first activity since cutting down the nets in Houston. “He was out to go recruit. It’s tough when you play the most amount of games you could possibly play, because you gotta get ready for the next season. We got right back into it essentially. We had no time off. We’re used to him always working and the practices and stuff like that, but it’s a whole new level.”

“Winning two national championships back-to-back would be something we’d just cherish forever. I think just winning the first one took a lot of pressure off him, but I think that his pursuit and his passion has carried him to this next one.”

Dan Hurley’s motivational tactics have garnered headlines in UConn’s path back to the summit, ploys that were used throughout the year as the Huskies ran roughshod through both the non-conference and Big East portions of their schedule. However, for as much attention as that generated, the coach admitted it was largely useless leading into the final game of the year, knowing what is at stake.

“For a lot of the year, we’ve used the external slights, the perceived slights, all those things,” he said. “The world’s against us mentality, I think that gets you through the regular season, Big East, January-February, when the team’s tired and you’ve gotta create these different things.”

“Where we really used that motivation (was), ‘everyone’s trying to get us, they want what we’ve got, we’re the champs, somebody’s gonna have to rip this out of our hands.’ We used that a lot, but once you get to this time of year, everything is just you are who your identity is. It just comes down to hoping that it’s your night.”

Regardless of desperation, or whatever other emotions lie within the UConn locker room, also lies the story of a son taking in one more lifetime experience with his father. And win or lose, that ride has been far more memorable than any hardware collected along the way, says Andrew.

“Just these past two years with the run that we’ve been on, this whole thing’s been surreal,” the junior Hurley recollected. “I feel like I’m numb to everything right now. I’m more sure if I’ll really feel anything until this is all said and done, just because of how surreal it’s been. Just to experience it with my father, it’s crazy.”

“Just to be able to share moments like this, even if we weren’t on this run, is something I’ve always wanted to do. To be able to share the moments we’ve shared the past four years, it’s something you wouldn’t trade for anything. It’s crazy.”