Dan Hurley may end up staying at UConn, but it appears the Los Angeles Lakers at least have him thinking about taking the NBA plunge.
That's because the Lakers made the back-to-back NCAA champion a "compelling" offer to coach the team, as Hurley told ESPN's Arian Wojnarowski. Hurley, 51, is expected to make a decision on his future on Monday.
According to reports, the Lakers offered Hurley 100 million reasons to contemplate their offer. Or more precisely, $100 million over eight years.
"In a phone interview Sunday, Hurley told ESPN that he left 'extremely impressed' with Lakers VP and GM Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss and had been spending Sunday weighing what sources tell ESPN is a massive, long-term offer to move to the NBA," Wojnarowski wrote.
This follows a report from veteran college basketball insider Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68. who wrote that Hurley approached the meeting "completely open-minded." Goodman first reported that Hurley would use the weekend to mull over the decision.
Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images
As an aside, he was spotted at the Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Hurley has coached the Huskies to back-to-back NCAA championships and reportedly met with his players to at least let them know he was speaking with the Lakers. A lot of insiders feel as if he will remain at UConn. So does St. John's coach Rick Pitino.
"What I'm hearing — and I have no [inside information] — is that his father [Bob Hurley Sr.] and his wife [Andrea] are very strong in his life and they don't want to go," Pitino told Dave Blezow of The New York Post. "I think he's going to try it, no different than [John] Calipari tried it or I tried it. I don't think he's going to take the job, but I think he's going to try the pros someday."
