Coach Dan Hurley, UConn agrees to new 6-year, $50M contract

UConn coach Dan Hurley, who has led the Huskies to back-to-back national championships and turned down an offer from the Los Angeles Lakers last month, signed a new contract to stay in Storrs through the 2029-30 season.

Harley’s new contract is worth $50 million over six years before performance-based incentives.

“It is an honor to coach basketball at UConn and represent this world-class institution and the great state of Connecticut,” Hurley said in a statement. “We are extremely proud of the championship program we have rebuilt for our supporters and fans. We will continue to pursue championships and historic success by continuing to develop great young players. Bleed Blue!”

Earlier this offseason, Hurley turned down a six-year, $70 million offer to become the Lakers’ head coach. He emerged as the franchise’s top target in early June, but after traveling to Los Angeles to meet with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and owner Gene Bass, Hurley decided to return to UConn. The Lakers later hired JJ Redick as their coach.

Under his new contract, Hurley will receive a base salary of $400,000 per year and additional compensation that increases annually for speaking, consulting and media obligations. Additional compensation starts at $6.375 million for the 2024-25 season. He will also receive a retention bonus of $1 million per year.

“Dan Hurley is one of the best men’s basketball coaches in the country and we are delighted that he will continue to call UConn home,” UConn President Radenka Meric said in the statement. “In addition to the exceptional program he has built over the years and the remarkable back-to-back NCAA championships he and his team have won, Coach Hurley serves as an important mentor to our student-athletes, pushing them to achieve both on the court and In the classroom, we are grateful both for his championship culture and his leadership at our university and in our state, helping to build a foundation for success in their lives long after they leave UConn.”

After stints at Wagner and Rhode Island, Hurley arrived at UConn in 2018. In his six seasons with the Huskies, he was 141-58, and he led the program to national championships in 2023 and 2024.

Over the past two seasons, UConn is 68-11, the best two-year stretch in program history. The Huskies have been historically dominant in the postseason over the past two seasons, winning all of their NCAA Tournament games by double digits.

“On behalf of UConn Nation, we are thrilled that Coach Hurley will lead the men’s basketball program for the foreseeable future,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said in the statement. “Dan and Andrea have poured themselves into rebuilding a program that has culminated in the last two national championships. This agreement recognizes the tremendous amount of effort that went into producing these results and the dedication that will be required to maintain a program that hopes to compete for conference and national championships in the future. .”

Despite having four players selected in June’s NBA draft, UConn is once again poised to start ranked in the top five. The Huskies return Alex Karaban, who withdrew from the NBA draft process, and welcome back top-10 recruit Liam McNeely.

No team has won three consecutive championships since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last two teams with back-to-back titles (Florida and Duke) did not win the third weekend of the NCAA Tournament. According to ESPN Stats & Data Research, around the time. The only team in the three-peat is UCLA, which won seven straight titles under John Wooden from 1967 to ’73.