Dan Hurley's UConn in search of new assistant coach as Tom Moore reportedly moves to front office role

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament Second Round-Connecticut at Florida - Source: Imagn

Coach Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies reached the second round of March Madness but were eliminated by the eventual national champion Florida Gators. The Huskies were nearly able to upset the Gators, narrowly losing 77-75.

Despite a good season, the Huskies now face a number of offseason challenges. The team's most recent concern is the necessity for a new assistant coach. According to Yahoo, Tom Moore, the team's previous assistant coach, will move to the front office next season. Moore's official job will be announced at a later date.

So, although Moore is still associated with the team, Hurley needs to find a new assistant coach. His other two assistants, Luke Murray and Kimani Young, remain on the team. They each signed three-year contracts last summer. Hurley spoke last summer about his thought process when hiring members of his coaching staff.

"I’m just so careful about who I hire, I always have been," Hurley said in July. "We share the same obsession with our work … It’s always hard for me to put together a staff because I think there’s not a lot of people that can work with me, just the intensity of how we go about our business, the way we run the program, it’s a different intensity level.

"I’m tough on the people that play for me and work for me, I’m demanding, so it’s always hard for me to find people to hire. They have to share that same kind of obsession and they can’t be looking for life balance."

Villanova coach Mike Nardi is the frontrunner for the UConn assistant coach job

UConn is looking for a new assistant coach, and the CT Post reports that Villanova coach Mike Nardi is the frontrunner. Nardi is a former player who became a coach in 2017.

Since 2017, Nardi has been a member of the Villanova Wildcats coaching staff. This past season, he was named the interim head coach after Kyle Neptune was fired.

However, he did not get the official head coaching position as Kevin Willard was brought in from Maryland. He would bring plenty of experience to UConn's coaching staff if he is hired.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

Know More

Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma, or Kim Mulkey - who is NCAAW's highest-paid coach? Find out here

Edited by Krutik Jain