Evanson: UConn coach Dan Hurley is a problem, and that problem goes beyond the college game

Published 1:00 pm Tuesday, December 3, 2024

UConn head coach Dan Hurley is an infant.

Sorry coach, but an instance can be a mistake, but a sequence of those same instances is a pattern. And in your case that pattern is not of a respected leader of men, but rather that befitting a petulant child.

In case you missed it, the two-time defending NCAA champion men’s basketball coach had a temper tantrum this past week during multiple games at the Maui Invitational. He whined, sniveled and, in a few instances, was restrained by his assistants during and after his team’s three games at the holiday event, and with some time to reflect, later stated he wouldn’t be taking his team to any MTE’s (Multiple Team Events) in the future.

In other words, the 51-year-old reigning Naismith and Sporting News Coach of the Year took his proverbial ball and went home.

Does that sound like a role model and/or mentor for student athletes and burgeoning young men? Because it looks and sounds to me more like another blowhard leader talking the talk, but failing to walk it.

Harsh? Good. I’m tired of grown men acting a fool to the detriment of the pupils they’re assigned to teach.

“His job is to win games!”

Yes, it is. But, as a college coach, he’s also responsible for schooling his players not just on how to act between the lines, but also beyond them. And while an unmitigated success regarding the former, he’s failing miserably speaking to the latter.

We have a respect problem in this country. Too many people are merely concerned with them and theirs, opposed to anything involving others.

Be it an opposing opinion, personal space or even basic rights afforded us as human beings, it’s “my way or the highway” for many who have only their wants and needs in mind.

Hurley is an emotional guy, clearly, but emotion is not an excuse for poor behavior.

You and I don’t get to yell at our bosses; we barely get to and in most cases shouldn’t yell at our kids; and I wouldn’t recommend yelling at the authorities. But somewhere along the line, coaches like Hurley were given a free pass to treat officials in a manner historically frowned upon in nearly every other walk of life.

Why is that?

Is it because officials wear ugly shirts?

Is it because they in most cases make pennies on the dollar?

Or is it because guys like Hurley tell everyone it’s OK to do so by way of the ease with which they disrespect them?

We have an officials shortage in this state. The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) has for years now pleaded with parents and coaches to act their age, but in the wake of their inability to do so, existing referees and umpires are leaving, and aspiring ones are thinking twice.

Go to a game and you’ll quickly understand why.

Parents yell at the coaches. Coaches yell at the officials. And who do you think is watching and noting it all? The kids who both the parents and coaches are supposed to be setting an example for.

Brilliant.

While I understand that the “true experts” are on the sidelines and in the stands, the ones trained to do the job are actually doing it — and they’re doing it to the best of their ability.

That doesn’t always make them right, and it certainly doesn’t make them above the law, but it should afford them a minimum level of respect that they’re unequivocally being denied by the likes of Dan Hurley.

What’s the answer?

In Hurley’s case, maybe he could simply act accordingly. You know, take a look in the mirror and check himself.

And in the case of local constituents who are marring games with their behavior at our local fields and in our local gymnasiums on a nightly basis, they could do the same.

But in lieu of what’s not likely to happen, maybe athletic directors, other parents and coaches, and/or even more talking heads like me could hold he and they accountable for their behavior unbecoming in the interests of us all?

I’m up for it, how about you?