"I was never chasing this": UConn HC Dan Hurley's blue-collar roots clash with newfound wealth and fame

Dan Hurley signed a $50 million six-year contract extension with the UConn Huskies last week, making him the second highest-paid college coach after Kansas Jayhawks' Bill Self. Hurley's new contract came after he turned down a $70 million head coaching offer—for the same six-year duration—from the Los Angeles Lakers.

In a Monday feature on CT Insider, Hurley admitted that he was still uncomfortable with his newfound wealth after growing up as the son of a high school coach.

“The success, what I have now, stature-wise and financially, that's just a byproduct of every single day trying to run a championship organization and every single day trying to get better as a coach — just every aspect of it, chasing it, pursuing it,” Hurley said. “Everything else is just a byproduct of that. I was never chasing this.”

The UConn coach's struggle with fame came from his family history and having been in the shadow of basketball's best. Who we know as Dan Hurley now was once more popularly known as the son of hall of famer coach Bob Hurley Sr. and the younger brother of NCAA Basketball's all-time leader in assists Bobby Hurley.

Bob was a legendary coach at St. Anthony High School in New Jersey where he won 28 state high school championships and four national championships until his retirement in 2017. Meanwhile, Bobby was integral in the Duke Blue Devils' back-to-back NCAA championships in 1991 and 1992.

Dan Hurley admits to using his father's success as a motivation for his career

When compared to the two, Hurley had a relatively unsuccessful college playing stint at Seton Hall and spent the early parts of his professional career coaching a high school team. He was then fired from his first college coaching job at Rutgers.

All of these took a hit on Hurley's morale.

“It sounds boring, but part of me is just still bothered — I don't want to say haunted — by a playing career that was unfulfilling to me,” Hurley said via CT Insider. “It's maybe changed my view, this chapter, the coaching piece, to make up for it. You want to be a great coach for your players. That's a super motivator. You want the respect of your peers."

He added:

"Being a Hurley and your father is a Hall of Fame coach — and my own pride, too — I'm not going to be a bozo coach. My dad is an all-time great coach. If you're going to be a coach, you better be a coach. The only college desire I ever had was, I just wanted to coach in the NCAA Tournament.”

With back-to-back championships in the bag, Hurley and the UConn Huskies are now on the hunt for their third.

Do you think the Huskies have a championship-winning roster? Let us know in the comment section below.