You have to give someone like Autry and Hurley time. You don't win a national championship team in one year.
Thought I'd give you some idea what Hurley, (2 National Championships), and (Auriemma, 11 National Championships), but this is mostly about Hurley, do at UConn to choose who stays and who goes and what Hurley does in practices to show official visitors what practices are like. I'm quoting, in part, the Sports Illustrated, Nov. 2024 issue by Michael Rosenberg. Some may like it -some not, but here it is.
"Some programs recruit with sugar and coach with salt. Here at UConn, we prefer to sell you the salt up front. It's more efficient. We purposely don't try and fool anyone into coming here, Hurley says. I don't have a great comfort level with a kid unless they've seen us practice a couple of times. You come and you watch us practice on an official visit, you see how hard we go. You've got to make a decision on whether you want to be in an environment like this. It attracts serious people - people that are serious about basketball.
The NCAA regulates how much teams can practice, but not how hard. Hurley gets four hours a week in the summer, and every minute is as intense as any in - season session. You might notice that he does not give his team water breaks. Managers run bottles out to players during drills. He also does not pause so players can practice free throws, or to blowtorch their effort. He says I think the longest I've stopped the practice since I've been in Connecticut is maybe 20 seconds maybe 25. He might gather them for a collective scolding when they're done, but during practice it's go, go, go.
It's also teach, teach, teach. Auriemma, who spends the first 45 minutes of his practices on fundamentals, says - with admiration - that Hurley coaches them like they're in junior high. He teaches them, like, This is how you dribble a basketball. That's why they're so --ing good. He takes high - level talent and coaches the absolute sh-- out of them.
You might think you're the greatest player in the country, on your way to a long pro career, and you don't need some coach showing you how to dribble. You might even be right. Good for you! Go somewhere else. I'm a high school coach by trade, Hurley says. I think that players have become more versatile, but in the end, it comes down to catching with two hands and finishing strong and being smart and a good passer.
University of Connecticut
He was named head coach of UConn on March 22, 2018. In 2021, he returned the Huskies to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016, then again in 2022, losing in the first round both times. He won the NCAA championship with the Huskies in 2023. In June 2023, he agreed to a six-year contract extension with UConn worth $32.1M. In July 2024, he signed an extension worth $50M over six years.
In the 2023–24 season, Hurley led the Huskies to a school-record 37 wins, a Big East regular season title, a Big East Tournament championship, a #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, and a second-straight NCAA national championship. He was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year and received the Sporting News National Coach of the Year Award.