Let them Hate: The Villainization of the Best Coach in America

There’s a quote in the movie Spider Man, where Green Goblin kidnaps Tobey Maguire and is talking with him on the rooftop of a building.

"The one thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying. In spite of everything you've done for them, eventually, they will hate you."

The turn of the mass media and general public on UConn head coach Dan Hurley has been jarring to see, especially in a season where the Huskies performed far under their expectations preseason, their domination in the sport of college basketball coming to a screeching halt. 

I think this is ridiculous. 

The antics of Dan Hurley have been long-documented, when his veins come pulsating out of his neck, when he’s screaming at his team and the refs (mostly the refs), and doing everything but playing on the court to attempt and will his team to victory.

Let me make this clear: I think Dan Hurley is the best coach this sport has to offer. It’s not just the attention to detail he has on defense, where he headed a tough, physically rugged defense in their back-to-back title run. For how profiled his defensive acumen had been, Hurley has an even better basketball mind for offense. With more sets than a broadway play director, it is such beautiful basketball to watch, seeing him free up the shooters that have come through Storrs, Connecticut. Jordan Hawkins comes off a double screen, then immediately fires the ball to Adama Sonogo on a slip. Cam Spencer sets a ball screen then immediately gets rescreened on a flare to set up a three pointer. 

Basketball cinema.

This wonderful basketball was what led UConn to back-to-back titles, and had them in every talkings heads’ preseason top 5. (Myself included, I really thought this team had a shot at history, and a three-peat, idiot!) But the struggles that ensued in late November, the three straight losses in Maui, and the fact that a late technical by Dan Hurley led to the Huskies’ demise against Memphis, provided all the fodder for those that have grown tiresome of UConn’s dominance. 

“He’s out of control, he makes the game about himself, he’s a lunatic.”

The media just piled on the man after UConn’s putrid performance in Lahaina, and it continued all season in a very mediocre season compared to the couple years prior. If you look at the roster, it is something to be celebrated that they made the tournament, won a first round game, and gave the eventual National Champion Florida Gators all they could handle for forty minutes of basketball in the Round of 32. 

But UConn’s performance wasn’t the media's focus after their season-ending loss, or the fact Dan Hurley’s game plan had the Gators reeling for a good portion of game time, with Solo Ball and Tarris Reed playing the games of their lives keeping the Huskies in the game down the stretch. It was after the game, where Dan Hurley was heard mouthing off about the refs’ performance in that game.

"I hope they don't f--k you like they f--ked us, Baylor. I really hope they don’t.”

Ouch, not a good look Dan.

This really in all honesty feels like a nothing burger that gives the social media machine more fodder to talk about than actual basketball. 

But that didn’t stop the talking heads from having it on every national headline during the first weekend of the tournament. It also gave critics and opposing Big East fan bases that had to watch and see Dan Hurley talk the talk and walk the walk the past few seasons, finally stumble and fall face first. Yet, it still flummoxes me deeply to see such animosity and fierceness directed towards the UConn head coach, for…losing. In fact, I believe Dan Hurley’s passion he displays should be celebrated and applauded. Why would I want my coach to show no emotion, to not want to win as badly as the players on the court? 

Dan Hurley coaches the game of basketball like every possession is life or death, and showcases a basketball mind that rivals the greats. That is precisely why I love him so much. His tirades and his unrelenting nature are characteristics shared by many of sports great coaches: Bobby Knight, Vince Lombardi, Nick Saban. All these coaches are revered by the general public, but why is Hurley’s general perception so different then those coaches?

Hurley embraces it.

He embraces the role of being the villain, yelling at fans pointing at his finger “Two rings baldy!,” being unapologetic for how he coaches the game, saying in an E60 documentary focusing on him, “Sports are getting softer and there’s not enough people that are living and dying with every possession.”

I love it.

Dan Hurley is an asshole, he berates refs, he screams and shakes his fists. But he doesn’t back down to everyone, he marches to the beat of his own drum and that just endears his style to me even greater. I’d like to see any other coach in the sport under the microscope that Hurley has had. Tom Izzo and Kelvin Sampson are just some other coaches that coach with a similar passion for the game, but get little to no mention of that fact from the media, and the refs view their actions with far less venom then when Hurley does.

Sports needs more people like Danny Hurley. The Jersey native doesn’t shy away from the label that is given to him, and is always himself. I’d have it no other way.

UConn is reloading for next season already, landing prized portal commit Georgia G Silas Demary Jr. (13.5 PPG/3.9 RPG/3.1 APG/), and a top 5 recruiting class with multiple impact players such as McDonald's All-Americans G Braylon Mullins and C Eric Reibe. And he’s not done yet. 1st Team All-Big East G Solo Ball is coming back, and the big fella down low who showcased physicality and toughness in the low block, Tarris Reed, is coming back.

I truly believe top to bottom that the UConn Huskies will be back with a vengeance, and Dan Hurley will be back.

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”

Harvey Dent, Darth Vader, Green Goblin, Dan Hurley.

What makes Dan Hurley so hated? He embraces the villain role, with spit flying, chewing up papers, and scheming like he’s in Oceans 11.

He is what makes college basketball so great, and I can’t wait.