Kentucky’s hopes of luring national championship-winning coach Dan Hurley from the university appear to be all but over.
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reports. “The chance was 0%.” Harley will be leaving for Kentucky, Posted by Matt Jones of KSR A college coach turned down a “big offer.”
In the midst of all this, Hurley himself backed away from the idea of heading to Lexington in an interview on “The Jim Rome Show” on Thursday.
When asked if he had any offers to potentially take the coaching job at Kentucky, Hurley told Rome, “No.”
“I believe at my core that I am who you say I am. I am grateful to UConn and the state of Connecticut and the university for keeping me and my staff and our program where we are. “I know you appreciate it. I know all of these things are in place for us to strive for a three-peat and show people who you are,” Hurley continued.
“Once you make some money, not much changes in life. Nothing makes me happier than being here and knowing that there are people out there. At the portal, we work strategically there. We’ve got some good new guys coming in, so we’re going to bring back some guys that will help us maintain where we are. We’re going to come here looking for a three-peat.”
Hurley added, “If I had a plan to listen to other schools, I would have gone into hiding right now and not been doing media work.”
The Wildcats’ coaching job became one of the biggest in the nation after John Calipari officially resigned late Tuesday night to become head coach at the University of Arkansas, revealed for the first time. It was late Sunday night.
Since then, one of the big questions in college basketball has been who will replace Calipari once he’s gone.
On Thursday morning, Baylor’s Scott Drew withdrew his candidacy in Kentucky’s race, bringing more attention to the vacancy.
Hurley remains steadfast in his intentions to remain in college after leading the program to back-to-back national titles. officials told Norlander. Kentucky “may offer him $20 million a year, but he won’t go.”
Norlander also labeled the idea of Hurley leaving Storrs, Conn., as “unsustainable as it is.”
Shortly after Norlander’s report, Jones reported that Hughley made an offer to Kentucky “a while ago to interested parties” and turned down the big deal.
With Drew and Hurley out, the spotlight will shift to former Florida State head coach and current Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan.
CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported that BYU’s Mark Pope is also a candidate.
