After a third consecutive season without an NCAA Tournament berth, ASU men's basketball is heading in a different direction.
The Sun Devils have decided to part ways with 11th-year head coach Bobby Hurley and will not have his contract extended, according to Sun Devil Athletics. The move follows a lopsided 91-42 loss to No. 7 Iowa State in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament that ended ASU's season.
Hurley will be placed on administrative leave until his contract expires in June, and ASU will begin to explore its options moving forward, according to Chris Karpman of SunDevilSource on X.
The Sun Devils (17-16, 7-11) finished 12th in the Big 12 rankings following a second-to-last place finish during their inaugural season in the league.
Since joining the Big 12 in 2025, the Sun Devils have gone 30-36 overall and just 11-27 in conference play under Hurley. During his decade-plus tenure in Tempe, Hurley compiled a 185-167 overall record and a 90-115 mark in conference matchups.
Despite becoming the second-winningest head coach in program history, Hurley was never able to take ASU past the first round of the NCAA Tournament in three appearances.
Hurley assumed the head coaching position in 2015 after a 42-20 stint with the University at Buffalo in the two years prior, and the Sun Devils' early years under him were defined by success.
The all-time NCAA assist leader took the Sun Devils to three straight 20-win seasons between 2018 and 2020, and back-to-back tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019 for the first time since 1981. During the 2017-18 season, ASU surged to No. 3 in the nation, matching its highest ranking in the AP Poll in program history.
A third-straight berth seemed to be on the cards before the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
Since the turn of the decade, however, Hurley struggled to keep the Sun Devils relevant. ASU finished with a record above .500 only twice and made just one tournament appearance in 2023.
A strong recruiting class for the 2024-25 season, featuring five-star Jayden Quaintance, provided a flicker of hope that Hurley could turn the program around to its previous highs, but a 4-16 conference record and Quaintance's departure for Kentucky extinguished those aspirations.
On March 11 following the 49-point loss, the largest margin of defeat in Big 12 Tournament history, Hurley appeared wryly reflective of his experience leading the Sun Devils.
"It's been a long road," Hurley said, according to AZSports. "It's been a special time. Two of my kids graduated from ASU. I've had the opportunity to coach some fantastic young men and had some terrific moments over the years … I don't have any regrets. I laid it out on the line to the best that I could every night."
Edited by Niall Rosenberg, Senna James and Sophia Braccio.
Reach the reporter at pvallur2@asu.edu and follow @PrathamValluri on X.
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Pratham Valluri is a sports reporter at The State Press. He is a junior majoring in sports journalism with business and data analytics minors. He’s in his 5th semester with The State Press working previously as an opinion writer.
