Dan Hurley feared his first impression on Geno Auriemma, says he was intimidated seeing UConn legend in practice

UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley and his counterpart on the women's side, Geno Auriemma, are two of the biggest names in college basketball today. Hurley grew up watching Auriemma build a dynasty in Storrs and the two coaches sat down for an exclusive conversation to discuss their paths to success.

On Wednesday, the UConn Huskies released the first episode of a new series called "Legendary Basketball" on YouTube. The 13-minute video shows the two coaches talking in a roundtable discussion.

Dan Hurley, in his seventh season at UConn, recalled the first time he saw Auriemma watching his practices in the early days of his coaching.

"I've followed Geno forever in basketball, so I felt like I met him a long time ago," Hurley said (5:13). "I remember Geno coming in for his son's games in the New Jersey prep. He'd catch parts of the end of our practice right before a prep school game would start.

"And I always felt enormous pressure when Geno came in. I did not want him walking out of there saying, 'My practice sucks' or 'This guy doesn't know what he’s doing,' or 'He's not a chip off the old block, whatsoever.

But, Geno has been one of the people that's helped me the most ... he's one of a handful of coaches or leaders that I go to when I want to bounce an idea, or I need advice, or I just need to talk to."

Geno Auriemma is the most decorated coach in women’s basketball history, leading the Huskies to 11 national championships. Dan Hurley has continued the Huskies' winning tradition on the men's side, leading UConn to back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024.

Dan Hurley talks coaching struggles and getting called a "donkey" by Auriemma

Dan Hurley, who joined Connecticut in 2018, has faced several challenges in his early days with the Huskies when his team was struggling to find wins.

In the pilot episode of UConn's "Legendary Basketball" series, Hurley recalled a pivotal moment on a long flight where he was asking Geno Auriemma for advice.

"I think we spent a lot of time talking and I just got a technical foul," Hurley told Auriemma (6:45). "We’re up 60 and I asked you what you thought, hoping you would confirm to me it was the right thing that I did. And you told me I was a complete donkey."

After losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022, there was significant external pressure on Dan Hurley to prove himself as an elite coach capable of delivering championship-level results.

However, he was able to break through in 2023, leading UConn to their fifth national title.