A college dynasty, LeBron’s Lakers and a landscape-altering decision for

Pete Thamel, ESPNJun 6, 2024, 09:00 AM ET Twenty years earlier, the most popular coach in all of college basketball interviewed with the Los Angeles Lakers and decided that resounded through 2 levels of basketball.Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s flirtation with the franchise included a jaw-dropping five-year,$40 million deal that loomed as an industry paradigm-changer back in 2004. Krzyzewski obviously refused

the cash and the overtures of Kobe Bryant, returned to Duke and left there as the winningest coach in college basketball history. The court there is named after him, and he is permanently a part of the university’s tradition as a transformative figure.A generation later on, UConn coach Dan Hurley deals with a similar crossroads, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Hurley is the target of the Lakers’training search. Hurley is fresh off back-to-back national titles– Krzyzewski had actually gone back-to-back more than a years before he made his decision– and is the hottest coach in the sport.An interesting choice awaits in a totally different age: possible college immortality or the risk-reward of coaching the Lakers, which is equal parts hot and volatile.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Could the skilled and impulsive Hurley rewire himself for the completely various temperament required in the NBA? And is the college game as steady as

the one Krzyzewski returned to 20 years ago?Will Hurley, 51, leave UConn in the middle of his prime and give up the opportunity to go after John Wood as the next NCAA tournament three-peat winner?Will Hurley take over the Lakers as they recalibrate in the golden of

LeBron James’ career and effort to skip the rebuild that might accompany his departure?Will Hurley take a look at the unpredictable and messy minute of college basketball’s nascent foray into becoming professional basketball and choose that real professional basketball makes more sense?It’s difficult to overstate the stakes here. Hurley’s choice ties the leading college

basketball program over the past quarter century– UConn has won six nationwide titles given that 1999– with the future of the NBA’s glitziest brand name. Dan Hurley is at the top of college basketball at UConn. Is he going to take the leap to the Lakers? Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports What decides for Hurley so compelling is that

it’s not a simple choice, as both sides have distinct risks and payoffs.If Hurley remains, he could go on to challenge Krzyzewski as the top modern coach in college basketball. Kansas’Costs Self (61) and St. John’s Rick Pitino (71) are the just other present college coaches with numerous titles.Planning the next 20 years in college, obviously, includes no certainty thinking about how much seismic modification we have actually seen in the previous 5. Hurley would need to essentially re-recruit a brand-new lineup every year, deal with the vagaries of income

sharing and NIL and hope the Big East can continue to swing with the two power conferences.( Hurley has not hid his disdain for the website, summed up by this fetal position picture.)Day 1 in the website … pic.twitter.com/Yv9u3CxjSI!.?.!— Dan Hurley (@dhurley15 )April 12, 2024 UConn does not have the capability to pay like the Lakers do, but it will be as fully committed as it perhaps can be.

The university’s identity is wedded to big-time basketball. But over the next decade, when the Big East tv contract is undoubtedly overshadowed

by the SEC’s and Huge 10’s, could that become harder to do?No one can securely predict what college sports will look like in 10

years, aside from projecting that the football dollars of the SEC and Big Ten are going to drive those 2 leagues into a different monetary stratosphere. No one is certain how that trickles down to hoops.And if there is some sort of breakaway of big-time football down the line, that’s an entire other set of headaches. Ones that helped lead coaches Jay Wright, Roy Williams and Coach K to select retirement over the collective migraines.But Hurley’s significant interest in the job indicates what’s apparent to anybody who understands him– he has the DNA of a Jersey street fighter. Often that edge is his biggest strength, but in the NBA it might be the greatest risk in damaging his period.

The theater would be fascinating.That street fighter will want him to deal with the obstacle of going to the NBA, coaching the best contemporary player in the world and slaying the monster that is the Lakers job.But that choice comes with the distinct threat of failure and a need for

Hurley to develop right away and significantly.Hurley’s players will tell you– and we’ve had successive Last 4 runs of reviews– that he brings the natural ability to be so non-stop focused on winning and establishing his players that it can be intense. They balance that, of course, by saying he enjoys them up off the court.

And nobody, obviously, is going to argue with current results.But can Hurley rechannel that searing focus to the personality of an NBA player? Could it work in the 82-game grind of an NBA season? Coaches

aren’t the stars in the NBA like they are in college. Can Hurley adjust to the whims of his players?There’s an effective course for Hurley to follow in college-to-NBA coaches such as Billy Donovan, Brad Stevens and Quin Snyder. They went to companies that welcomed the concept of running an NBA franchise like a college program, based greatly on player development and connection. The player development pedigree is there, and the tactical genius is atop college basketball ideal now.Hurley provided among the all-time self-evaluations in

March when he summed up turning into one of the faces of college basketball by doing this:”I’m basically a high school coach that’s like masquerading up at this college level. I don’t truly care what people always think about my strength, it undoubtedly shows up the

right way with my group. We do not cheat, we don’t lie. I believe we have to do with all the best things. Just, at times, I’m an a– hole. “With a dad, Bob, who is in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and a sibling, Bobby, who was a first-round NBA draft choice, Dan Hurley’s psychology have always been fascinating. The flame running hot is hereditary and unflinching.But there are two aspects of Hurley’s self-assessed character trait that would need to unequivocally change, or his period would quickly end up being a repeat of the long line of college-to-NBA flops.The first is Hurley would have to completely change his sideline demeanor and his treatment of officials, as that act is entirely unsustainable throughout an NBA season.That strength–” I am a consumed coach, “Hurley stated in March– that’s been the North Star of a profession increase from training in prep school has led to unsightly and awkward interactions with officials. (Given that Hurley arrived at UConn in 2018-19, the school is 3rd in Division I with 25 technical fouls, per ESPN Stats & Information.)The other is that he ‘d have to– and it’s odd to

require to state this aloud– stop connecting with and confronting fans. The site of Hurley yelling at Creighton and Providence fans postgame in the last months of the season– it’s all on YouTube– would go from regional eye roll to national roasting.If those exact same interactions take place after an overtime buzzer-beater in Sacramento, it ‘d be a viral monster and the most significant story in sports the next day.

Not simply a shoulder shrug about” Danny being Danny.”Ultimately, the option boils down to this: Stay at a place where you are treasured, your antics are shaken off and your tradition can echo for generations.Or you can go to the Lakers, where winning big crosses into pop culture, permits you to tango with Hollywood and contend at the greatest level in a more steady league.Any threat is alleviated, of course, by the reality that some SEC or Big 10 school would embrace his failure for$ 10 million annually in 2026. And he might go on his merry extensive methods, winning games and reviving his Hall of Popularity track. All while revealing the very same level of histrionics towards the officials.Two years after Krzyzewski selected Duke, another option looms that will ripple through 2 billion-dollar industries.Alert the paparazzi: The Hurley watch is on.