UConn's Dan Hurley Considered Resigning After 2024 Season, 'I Was Completely Cooked'

In a new book entitled "Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes To Be Great," Dan Hurley revealed that he considered stepping down as head men's basketball coach of the UConn Huskies following the 2024-25 season.

According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Hurley co-wrote the book with The Athletic's Ian O'Connor, and divulged, "I thought about leaving. Taking a gap year. Resigning as head coach of the UConn Huskies."

After winning back-to-back national titles, the Huskies fell to top-seeded and eventual national champion Florida in a hard-fought, 77-75 defeat in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Hurley described his psyche following that loss, writing, "I knew my mind, and I knew my body, and I could feel that I was completely cooked. Just burnt. I didn't even know how I was standing."

At that time, Hurley explained that he was second-guessing much of what he did during the 2024-25 campaign in terms of the roster he built and how he coached and led his players.

Hurley, 52, explained that he knew he needed a break from the grind coming off a heartbreaking end to the season, but that it wasn't really possible due to the nature of the transfer portal:

"It was unhealthy to be ruminating this way. I was unhealthy. I desperately needed to get out of town, flee to my standard hideaway, Dorado Beach in San Juan. I needed to do some healing, not think about basketball for a few days. But that wasn't possible in this new era. The transfer portal and NIL deals made every college player a free agent, so right after the tournament I needed to be in my office, in Storrs. If I left town right then, I wouldn't have a team for the 2025-26 season. At that point, I wasn't even sure that I would return for the 2025-26 season."

Had Hurley stepped away from coaching, he was considering the possibility of becoming a college basketball analyst, even speaking with Fox Sports about a position, according to Marchand's sources.

Despite having some potential interest in broadcasting after reportedly speaking to former Villanova head coach Jay Wright about the benefits of leaving coaching and becoming a broadcaster, Hurley decided to stay put.

It marked the second consecutive offseason that Hurley nearly stepped away, although the first such instance was due to an offer he received to become head coach of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

Former ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers offered Hurley a six-year, $70 million deal, but he ultimately turned it down in favor of chasing a third straight national championship.

The Lakers hired former NBA guard JJ Redick instead, and while he led them to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, they fell in the first round of the playoffs.

In the book, Hurley explained what drew him back to UConn once again, while also describing the difficulties of coaching and the toll it can take on a person:

"Listen, I cherish my job, my players, our school, our fans, and our boosters. I've got the very best job in the country with the very best program in college basketball over the last quarter century. All of that is hand-on-the-Bible true. But what's also true is the massive toll that coaching takes on you and your family. The whole thing is exhausting. The seasons are excruciating even when they are going great. You rarely get to the national championship game and win it, so if the season ended the way I wanted it to end only two years out of my coaching life, then I was tortured for 28 years. That's a hell of a way to look at it. I'm not some unbreakable machine programmed to seek and destroy opposing teams and officiating crews—over and over and over again. I'm human."

While last season didn't go the way Hurley wanted, the fact that he pushed the national champs to the brink suggests he still had a strong team, and perhaps has a core that can contend during the 2025-26 season as well.

Per 247Sports, Hurley put together the 11th-best recruiting class in the nation for the 2025-26 campaign, including a 5-star prospect in the No. 12 overall recruit Braylon Mullins.

The Huskies figure to be in the mix as one of the best teams in the country once again next season, but as Hurley himself explained, getting back to the top of the mountain will take an incredible amount of work and dedication from both him and his players.