How would UConn coach Dan Hurley respond to an offer of more money from Kentucky?
Two-time defending national champion coach Dan Hurley is combing the transfer portal for his next round of recruits at Connecticut, not preparing to become the next Kentucky basketball coach, he said Wednesday afternoon.
In an appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” Hurley discussed winning a second straight title at UConn this week before being asked how he will deal with approaches from other schools. While Cowherd did not mention Kentucky specifically, he asked Hurley how he would respond to schools that might offer significantly more money than he makes now.
“It’s certainly flattering, but I’ve got a long career of turning down jobs or more money to stay in places I was happy and that fit me and that provide me the resources to at that level achieve the things you want to achieve,” Hurley said. “Right now at UConn ... what the place means to us, the opportunity to go for a three-peat right now is the only thing that’s obviously on anyone’s mind here.
“I just can’t see that being a thing.”
Those comments echoed what Hurley said in the immediate aftermath of beating Purdue for the national championship Monday, but since then Kentucky’s job has officially opened with John Calipari moving to Arkansas.
Hurley is believed to be one of Kentucky’s top targets for the job, and the Wildcats could offer him substantially more money than his reported $5 million salary at Connecticut. Kentucky paid Calipari $8.5 million last season.
Hurley’s comments came shortly after Baylor coach Scott Drew, who the Herald-Leader reported Kentucky was discussing the job with, tweeted a photo of himself eating lunch in Baylor gear alongside a prominent Baylor booster in Waco, Texas, amid social media focus on a private jet flying from Waco to Lexington.
