Hurley: “Not as much pressure” after last year, feels calmer and confident in a better season

Dan Hurley fields questions at Big East media day as his fourth-ranked UConn team chases third national championship in four seasons. (Photo by Getty Images)

NEW YORK — For better or worse, the Dan Hurley experience always offers something memorable.

The roller coaster that is the life of the head coach at the University of Connecticut has ascended to unparalleled highs, like the back-to-back national championships of the two seasons prior to last year. It has also yielded lows, such as the infamous Maui Invitational last November or the aftermath of last March’s loss to eventual national champion Florida. Along the duration of the ride, it has also provided moments of self-reflection, like the diagnosis of what needed to be fixed following the NCAA Tournament exit at the hands of New Mexico State three years ago.

The latest inversion on Storrs Mountain has borne something similar to the latter, where Hurley assessed the effect last season had on his preparation to once more get in line and buy his ticket, in his inimitable and unique fashion.

“I think it’s been nice to get back to pursuit as opposed to reigning and defending,” he said Tuesday inside Madison Square Garden during the annual Big East Conference media day. “Getting that kind of weight off and getting that target set again, and that pursuit again, it’s been a little freeing. I think last year was very valuable in terms of getting a reset. The ego exploded last year. I think I didn’t have my best year as a coach, both in terms of the way I led the group and the group that I put together, and then the way that I handled myself and the team throughout the year. So I think I’m in a much better position to get the most out of my team.”

“Last year, I think that there were a couple games that we left on the table, that I take responsibility for. I’m gonna have a better year as a coach this year having experienced what I went through last year. Failing to three-peat, the criticism I took during the year, I think it has all made me a better coach and I’ll have a better year.”

Hurley, for whatever faults a non-UConn fan usually tries to find, always manages to own his shortcomings and attempt to remedy them. But while he has already reclaimed a positive mindset and manifested a better result than last year’s second-round NCAA Tournament comeuppance, it begs the question: Is there more pressure to return to the summit for a third time in four years, after the much-publicized Hawaii highlight reel sparked a referendum on his in-game and sideline decorum?

Not so, he believes. In fact, he feels the viral nature of his display actually serves him better for having done it and learned from it.

“Not as much pressure as last year,” Hurley opined. “I mean, I had put myself in a pretzel before the year started. I had wound myself up…I mean, you saw Maui, you saw the monstrous intensity and maniacal egomaniac that was imploding on the island, let’s say. So I’m in a state right now where I’m gonna dial up the intensity and the energy when I need it, but I do think that there’s a calmness about getting back on pursuit as opposed to reigning and defending that just has me in a better state leading the team, whereas I’m not so obsessed. There’s an obsession, but it’s not quite at that egocentric level.”

UConn, with three preseason first team all-Big East selections in Solo Ball, Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed, Jr., is rounding back into form, and so too is Hurley after succinctly acknowledging the Huskies “earned the season we got” through his own errors and miscues. Despite the coach’s assertion that his program enjoyed a more conventional offseason than it had in recent years, it was not without its share of fanfare, as the coach co-wrote his autobiography that released in September. In the book, Hurley takes readers through his journey at warp speed, and closes with an open admission of his continuing battle to maintain his mental health and an advocacy for those fighting the same issues. Trying to destigmatize a topic that is still looked at as taboo in some circles is challenging, but for Hurley, raising the curtain has not been a burden. Rather, it has served as a refreshing release that has allowed him to reap the inner peace he has sought for most of his adult life, a 180 in some ways from last April, where, in his book, he shared he was “cooked” and contemplated stepping down as UConn’s head coach after a near-breaking point.

“For me, it’s important for me to be an advocate for mental health, especially with men, but for all human beings here,” he said. “I’ve struggled a lot and got through some really dark moments, especially as a college student and then as a young father and as a young husband struggling career-wise, financially, struggling relationally to deliver for your family, some very dark times. So for me, I want to be an advocate. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a lot of tools and a lot of ways that you can work on yourself and help yourself emotionally and mentally feel better, whether that’s by finding your purpose or things like sleep, nutrition, exercise, relationships, meditation. There’s a lot of things that you can do, so for me, that was important.”

“Having the book out too, I think at this time of year, for me, has put me in a mental state going into the year that I feel pretty light. Anytime that you share your honest life story with people and it’s very personal, and it’s very open, I think it’s incredibly freeing and it gives you a lot of strength. Sharing what I feel like after winning back-to-back championships, and I still deal with anxiety issues and emotional health issues after reaching the top of the mountain, I think it’s made me feel a lot freer going into the season.”