On the heels of turning down a lucrative job offer with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, University of Connecticut men’s head basketball coach Dan Hurley has agreed to a contract extension with the Huskies that makes him one of the highest paid coaches in college.
Coming off a second consecutive NCAA championship title with UConn, Hurley has accepted a six-year, $50 million deal that keeps him with the Huskies through the 2029-30 season. The extension will replace the previous six-year, $32.1 million deal Hurley reached with UConn in June 2023, and it also comes about a month after he rejected a six-year, $70 million offer to become head coach of the famed Lakers.
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In addition to his $400,000 base salary, Hurley will receive $6.375 million next season for speaking, consulting and media obligations — which will escalate each year of the contract, a press release from the school stated. He will also receive a $1 million yearly retention bonus.
“Dan Hurley is the best men’s basketball coach in the nation and we are delighted that he will continue to call UConn home,” UConn President Radenka Maric said in a statement. “In addition to the exceptional program he has built over a period of years and the extraordinary back-to-back NCAA championships he and his teams won, Coach Hurley serves as a critical mentor to our student-athletes, pushing them to achieve both on the court and in the classroom, helping to lay the groundwork for their success in life long after they have left UConn. We are grateful both for his championship culture and for his leadership at our university and in our state.”
Hurley will be entering his 15th season as a collegiate head coach. Since joining the Huskies in 2018, he has turned a struggling program around and holds a 141-58 record in six seasons with UConn, including a historic 67-11 campaign during UConn’s dominant back-to-back title run over the past two seasons.
“It’s an honor to coach basketball at UConn and to represent this world class institution and the great state of Connecticut,” Hurley said. “We are extremely proud of the championship program that we have rebuilt for our supporters and fans. We will continue to obsessively pursue championships and historic success, while continuing to develop great young men. Bleed Blue!”
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