Editor's Note: As ASU continues its search for its next head coach, State Press writers pitched their best ideas on who should replace Herb Sendek. Read others here. Here's why Bill Slane thinks Buffalo head coach Bobby Hurley should be the next to take over the Sun Devils:
Bio: Hurley has been the head coach at the University of Buffalo for two years after stints under his brother Dan as an assistant on the staffs at Wagner and Rhode Island. In his first year at Buffalo, he led the team to a first-place finish in the East Division of the MAC and followed that up this season with a MAC tournament championships and the school’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, losing to West Virginia in the second round.
Hurley is the son of legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley, who has won a national record 27 state high school championships in New Jersey. Hurley played under his father at St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey City and won the state title all four years he was on the team including a 32-0 record his senior year, a win in New Jersey’s first ever Tournament of Champions and a No. 1 ranking in the country. St. Anthony’s lost just five games while Hurley was the starting point guard.
At Duke, under coach Mike Krzyzewski and alongside the infamous Christian Laettner, Hurley went to three Final Fours, won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1991-92 and was a first team All-American in 1993. He is the NCAA's all-time leader in assists with 1,076.
Why ASU should hire him: Full disclosure: I was born in Jersey City and most of my family is still in Jersey, so the Hurley name means a lot more to me because of all of the work Hurley’s father has done and continues to do for that city. My dad is an alumnus of St. Anthony’s High School and played for a year on the varsity basketball team under Hurley’s father (Of course he didn’t play much as the 12th man, but the coach still recognized him years later at a tournament in San Diego my dad went to watch). There are pictures of me on the steps of St. Anthony’s, so I am fully aware of the bias I have for wanting ASU to hire the guy from Jersey. But looking at it as objectively as I can, he makes the most sense.
To put it simply, Hurley is a winner. Winning is in his blood, and it’s the only thing he’s ever known. If it weren’t for a car accident early in his rookie season of the NBA that could have killed him, he may have won at every level as a player. He, like his father, doesn’t like to lose and gets the very most out of his players to make sure that does not happen.
Ray Anderson used words like “dynamic” and “electric” to describe the kind of coach he wants for Sun Devil basketball and I don’t know if there is another coach available who fulfills that definition better than the man coach Krzyzewski called the “most daring” player he’s ever coached at Duke and has now proven he can be just as successful as a coach.
Names like Steve Lavin and Josh Pastner have been discussed since Herb Sendek’s firing. Those two are great coaches and would likely bring plenty of success for the Sun Devils, but the price is not going to be right. Pastner made $2.6 million last year for Memphis, Lavin made just over $2 million at St. John’s. Reports are that ASU had to buy Sendek out of his contract at $2.7 million, so are Sun Devil boosters going to willing to raise enough money to attract a name like Pastner or Lavin after giving their last coach that much money just to leave Tempe? It’s a tough ask.
On the other hand, Hurley made a total of just $300,000 last season at Buffalo, so his price tag will likely be much lower than those more established names.
Hurley may not bring the same type of youthful passion off the court that Pastner would bring or the more-established credentials that Lavin would bring. But I am more than sure of one thing he would bring to Tempe: a winner. Hurley has all of the same fire his father has with his team on the court and knows what it takes to be a winning basketball team, he’s been part of them his whole life.
There was a report last week that Ray Anderson and Michael Crow have had a phone conversation with Hurley. If I were in their shoes, I would get him out to Tempe as quickly as possible before someone else snatches him.
Of course the best reason I can think of is that we already know Hurley looks good in maroon and gold; they’re the same colors as the St. Anthony’s Friars.
Why ASU won’t hire him: The biggest thing keeping Hurley from being the perfect candidate in my mind is his lack of West Coast roots. Hurley has been an East Coast guy his entire life and has no connections to Arizona or any other Pac-12 school for that matter. This could make the recruiting process for local players more difficult.
Herb Sendek did not have strong ties to the West either before coming to ASU and was still able to recruit James Harden from California and local Arizona kids like Jahii Carson, but perhaps the school is looking for someone more rooted in the west this time around because Sendek was not able to parlay that into sustained success.
Lavin has his UCLA roots, which make sense for ASU. Pastner played his college basketball and started his coaching career as an assistant at Arizona, so the connection there is even more apparent.
Hurley is also largely unproven as a head coach as he’s only been a head coach for two years. While those seasons at Buffalo were an unquestioned success and his pedigree is undeniable, perhaps ASU will be looking for someone with a larger portfolio to his name and would be scared to give the job to someone whose only other coaching experience was two seasons in the MAC.
The other major stumbling block if ASU really wants Hurley is going to be getting him out to the West Coast. There are reports that Hurley was extremely interested in the DePaul before Dave Leitao agreed to a deal to return to the school. There was also a report a week ago that said Hurley has already agreed to a contract in principle with Buffalo to return as head coach, however ESPN did refute those reports.
There’s also the St. John’s job. Chris Mullin has already reportedly taken the job but there were also reports that both Bobby and his brother Dan Hurley would have been interested in being the head coach of the Red Storm.
Clearly Hurley has a strong tie to the East Coast and all of the names attached to him aside from ASU have been on that side of the country. It may take a lot to get him to move across the country.
Note: Hurley has reportedly signed a contract extension with Buffalo on March 25.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow @bill_slane on Twitter.
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