Who Is Dan Hurley? The UConn Coach’s Wild Rise (and His Lucky Bracelet)
Plus, a look back at his journey from high school coach to building a UConn dynasty
Key Takeaways
- Dan Hurley led UConn to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2023 and 2024
- Hurley turned down the LA Lakers head coaching job in 2024 to stay at UConn
- His wife Andrea restrings his holy Jerusalem beads lucky charm before every game
The NCAA championship men’s basketball game between University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies and the University of Michigan Wolverines is almost here, and all eyes will be on UConn’s intense, headline-making coach, Dan Hurley. Before tipoff, get to know the man behind the Huskies’ run, from his rise through the coaching ranks to the surprising “lucky charm” he wears for every game.
Get to know Dan Hurley
Hurley was born in 1973 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He played five years of college basketball at Seton Hall in South Orange, New Jersey before working as assistant coach at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City from 1996 to 1997 and the Rutgers assistant coach from 1997 to 2001. He was then named head coach at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey in 2001 and remained there until 2010, when he went to Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. He remained at Wagner for two years before transferring to the University of Rhode Island, where he coached from 2012 to 2018.
Finally, in 2018, Hurley was named head coach at UConn and has since won two NCAA Division I men’s basketball championships, in 2023 and 2024.
“It shows how dominant coach Hurley is,” senior forward Alex Karaban said, per The New York Times. “For him to create this UConn dynasty at the same time, too, has been unbelievable.”
With all the success comes a lot of pressure. In 2025, Hurley and UConn were booted out of March Madness during the second round, which was quite a big shift from their previous wins in 2023 and 2024.
“That was ego. That was all me,” Hurley told The New York Times over the weekend. “That was part of me ruining last season. Just to put that on that team, and to not just make it about everything—giving everything in your pursuit of your goals—as opposed to even thinking about a dynasty.”
Thankfully, during the 2025 to 2026 season, Hurley and his team came back even stronger and are now set to compete in the championship game.
“The year hasn’t been a joyride. We haven’t been a machine of destruction,” Hurley told The New York Times. “We’ve been a team that’s had to grind out games like this.”
Dan Hurley’s personal life
Hurley and his wife Andrea are proud parents to two sons, Andrew and Danny. The whole family is deeply invested in UConn’s success. Andrea can often be found on the sidelines of the game, and Andrew even played for UConn and now works for the school in his graduate student program.
And that’s not all: Andrea also makes sure Hurley has his good luck charm with him before each and every game.
“He got this bracelet years and years ago in church, and they’re holy beads, and they’re from Jerusalem,” Andrea told CBS Sports over the weekend. “He wears them every single game. They break all the time. They’ve been breaking for years. They fall all over the floor. So I string them [back together].”
What’s next for Dan Hurley?
Over the last few weeks, rumors have been swirling over whether Hurley would be leaving UConn for the National Basketball Association (NBA). Hurley quickly shut down the rumors, telling Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68, “I’m the UConn coach until the end, and maybe the NBA someday down the line. But yeah, I’m the UConn coach.”
Prior to this rumor, Hurley was offered a job with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024, but he turned it down.
“It’s something I wanted to explore,” Hurley said in 2024, per ESPN. “The opportunity to potentially coach the Lakers, to work with one of the greatest players of all time… to lead such a storied franchise and to walk the sidelines where some of the greatest ever—Pat Riley and Phil Jackson—coached. It was something I had to explore, consider and see what it looked like.”
“This wasn’t like some pressure tactic to make me the highest-paid college coach. That was already done,” he continued. “But to leave a place that you feel the way we do and the family connection with my wife, my sons, my mother-in-law, my father … I know how much it means to my dad to go to the Big East tournament and come to 10 UConn games a year at home, sitting courtside, when I’m coaching against Rick Pitino.”
You can watch UConn take on Michigan Monday, April 6 at 8:30 p.m. on TBS and Sling.
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