North Carolina’s coaching search included UConn’s Dan Hurley, but he reveals the school never contacted him directly amid championship run.
North Carolina was tied to several big-name coaches in college basketball before ultimately hiring former NBA head coach Michael Malone to replace Hubert Davis.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd and Michigan head coach Dusty May appeared to receive the most buzz with UNC. However, early in the coaching search, UConn's Dan Hurley and Florida's Todd Golden were named as potential candidates.
Hurley has had an amazing run in the past few seasons, leading UConn to two national championships and three Final Four appearances in the last four seasons.
Amid a run to the national championship game this year, Hurley was focused on trying to win a third championship, not the UNC opening.
During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show this week, Hurley claimed the Tar Heels did not reach out to him directly during the coaching search.
“Nah,” Hurley said to a question about UNC trying to contact him, via a transcription from On3 when asked if North Carolina reached out to him directly.
"I knew my last year (at Rhode Island) that there’d be interest from Pittsburgh and UConn, (and) you obviously have agents that (can serve as intermediaries) … because these schools … want to know what your interest level is while you’re in that other job. They don’t want to wait until your season’s up."
Even when the Huskies wanted to court Hurley, the head coach kept his mind on Rhode Island until they lost in the NCAA Tournament. It didn't hurt his candidacy, and he became the head coach of UConn.
“But I think what’s unique for me coaching Rhode Island, I refused to talk to any of those schools or to even have the intermediary conversations until Duke beat my butt at the end of my last game (in the 2018 NCAA Tournament),” Hurley said.
North Carolina was smart not to go too hard after Hurley. Like Lloyd and May, Hurley's buyout would have been a lot to pay in addition to funding a new program under the head coach.
Malone had no such buyout, though he's set to be one of the top five paid coaches in college basketball.