Defiant Dan Hurley insisted his negotiations with the Los Angeles Lakers were not an advantage move.
Hurley was heavily linked with a move to the Lakers before turning them down and remaining at the University of Connecticut.
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Hurley wasn’t shy about pointing out that he won back-to-back titles with UConn in March Madness.
The 51-year-old appeared on “The Dan Le Batard Show” with Jon “Stugotz” Weiner.
“One of the worst opinions I’ve ever heard is that this was my strategy to improve my situation at UConn,” Hurley said.
“I don’t need an advantage here. We won back to back national championships at this place.
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“This has never been a leverage situation for me.
“I have had a contract here for a few weeks and the financial part in terms of salary has been done for some time.
“There are some other parts, like NIL and employee salaries, and some different things that I want to adjust that I’m not comfortable with.
“But the feeling or the idea that this was some conspiracy to get me a better deal at UConn is lazy.
“It was a really agonizing decision for me.”
“Sunday night going into Monday where I had a deadline in mind, I was torn and didn’t really know what to do until I went to bed.”
The leverage allegation against Hurley occurred in large part because the story was broken by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
He had previously written a book about Hurley’s father, Bob Hurley.
Now it appears the Lakers may be turning their attention to JJ Redick.
As for Hurley, he will now focus on leading UConn to a historic trilogy of titles.
“Ultimately, I’m extremely proud of the championship culture we’ve built at Connecticut,” he said.
“We got to know each other as a team before practice today and our focus now is on improving this summer and connecting as a team as we continue our quest for championships.”
Hurley has been at UConn since 2018, having spent six years at Rhode Island before that.
The 75-60 victory over Purdue this year sealed the second straight title.
They became the first team to backtrack since Florida in 2006 and 2007.
“What could you say?” Hurley said that night. “We won – by a lot again.”
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