"Best coaching staff in the country": Fans hyped as Dan Hurley's UConn welcomes new assistant coach Mike Nardi

Former Villanova player and coach Mike Nardi has joined the UConn men's basketball program as their new assistant coach. Before taking up coaching, the 40-year-old spent four years, from 2003 to 2007, at Villanova as a player.

He featured in 122 games for the Wildcats before becoming an assistant coach, helping Jay Wright. He spent 10 years as a coach at Villanova before making the switch to UConn to work with Dan Hurley.

The 40-year-old has great experience in college basketball, both as a player and as a coach. So it seems like a good addition to the backroom staff for the Huskies.

With this news, the UConn fans were ecstatic and have begun hyping Nardi. They believe that the new addition to the coaching team will surely help the men's program to push forward in the coming years.

"Best coaching staff in the country and it's not even close," a passionate UConn fan reacted.

"From UConn killer to UConn legend," another user shared.

"News overload," a netizen wrote on X.

"Well deserved, my brother," another college hoops fan expressed.

"Best of luck Coach! We'll miss you on the sidelines," a Villanova fan shared.

The former Villanova man brings a lot of experience to the Huskies roster, and fans will hope that his inclusion helps their program in the coming years.

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UConn's Dan Hurley is thrilled with Mike Nardi's appointment as assistant coach

UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley was happy with the inclusion as he believes that Mike Nardi will solidify the coaching panel with his experience and expertise. He feels that Nardi's experience of winning the Championship as a player and as a coach will help UConn.

"I'm thrilled to add a bright and talented coach like Mike Nardi to our staff here at UConn," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "Mike has been a part of winning under the brightest lights and on the biggest stages as both a player and as a coach."

"He will bring a unique perspective to help us pursue our championship goals and I can't wait for him to start working with our players and coaches," Hurley continued.

Mike Nardi is someone who brings valuable experience with him. In 2015, he joined Villanova's backroom staff as the director of student athlete development. Later, he worked one season as video coordinator and also as the director of basketball operations.

Nardi worked with the Wildcats' NCAA championship-winning teams in 2016 and 2018. He eventually got promoted to an assistant coach role and worked for Jay Wright until he retired in 2022. Nardi continued as assistant for the last three seasons under Kyle Neptune.

The UConn Huskies finished third in the Big East with a decent 14-6 record in the regular season. In the Big East tournament, the Huskies defeated Villanova to reach the semifinals, where they fell short against Creighton.

The fans had a lot of expectations from UConn in the NCAA Tournament, but they could only manage a run till the second round as they lost to the eventual champions, Florida Gators, in a dramatic 77-75 scoreline.

They will hope Mike Nardi can help them make a deeper run next season and improve several aspects of the game.