"It's suffering and it's torture": Dan Hurley resonates with Geno Auriemma on the fear of losing and suffering from success at UConn

UConn Huskies coaches Dan Hurley and Geno Auriemma have had bumps in their careers but have managed to stay successful till today. Hurley is coming off two straight national titles with the men's team and is vying for No. 3 with a respectable 6-2 Big East record thus far, 14-5 overall. Meanwhile, for Auriemma, the women's squad is on a 9-0 unbeaten run in the conference, with 18-2 overall.

What has made them great tacticians individually is their ability to keep their programs' competitive spirit in the top tier even with recent strings of hurdles to overcome. Auriemma has not won the national championship in almost a decade, with his last one in 2016. Hurley, as well, has had his own losses with the fact that his side is ranked No. 19 in the nation thus far in their 2024-2025 title defense.

In a sit-down conversation between the two in the first episode of the UConn Huskies Youtube channel's "Legendary Basketball," Hurley alluded to Auriemma about the pressure they deal with when it comes to coaching programs that only accept wins and would have to face adversities when it came to defeats.

"You know your players so well, what they're capable of when they're at their best and at their worst. So, day of the game, the night before these big games, you're thinking about the opponent. You're thinking about just all the different scenarios and how the game could play out in a way that's not favorable. It's hard to get those thoughts out of your mind," he shared. (10:58)

"Staying busy, having routines, that's kind of helped with that, I want to say, suffering and torture. It's suffering and it's torture, and the nerves you get in the preseason because noone knows how their team is going to play until their team actually gets on the court and actually starts to play," Hurley continued to share.

To maintain the coaching caliber that Hurley and Auriemma possess is a daunting task, one they'll be facing once again when Hurley's men's Huskies take on the Xavier Musketeers and Auriemma's women's team go up against the Creighton Bluejays on Saturday, Jan. 25, on the road.

Geno Auriemma told Dan Hurley that the national title game is the "worst day of your life"

Dan Hurley in the 2023 NCAA national championship game. - Source: Bob Donnan, Imagn

When Dan Hurley and his UConn Huskies men's basketball team first won the national title back in 2023, he went to Geno Auriemma for advice the night before the finals game — he shared in the episode. The winningest college coach of all time would then tell Hurley that it'll be the worst day of his life.

"I told you before the first championship game in Houston. I said, 'Tomorrow is going to be the worst day of your life.' Because if you win, you're going to be beside yourself to get back here. If you lose, you're going to want to destroy everything you've done because it's not good enough and I gotta get back and I gotta prove I can win this," he shared. (9:34)

"It's a no win situation," Auriemma then concluded.

Hurley's team would go on to win the national championship game against the San Diego State Aztecs, 72-59, in what would be his first of two straight national trophies as they aim for No. 3 this year.