Dan Hurley is the new face of men's college basketball. And he is perfect for the role.
Now a back-to-back champion, UConn's coach is commanding the kind of attention his sport has not had in a long time.
Dan Hurley opened his national title-winning news conference by praising Matt Painter and Purdue for being a classy program.
He ended said statement this way:
“Obviously, what can you say? We won. By a lot again.”
The entire intro lasted 32 seconds.
Thirty-two seconds that were Dan Hurley and UConn personified.
If you’re a fan of the Huskies, back-to-back national title winners, owners of six trophies across the past 26 years, you ate it up.
If you’re almost anyone else, you probably rolled your eyes and said a silent prayer for someone — anyone — to dethrone Hurley’s program before it three-peats next season.
And damned if the men’s college game couldn’t use a storm just like this to rip through the sport and leave everyone searching for answers in its wake.
The giants of the game are gone. Coach K, Roy, Boeheim, Jay Wright — each has hung up the whistle in recent years, leaving a void that tons of talented coaches, bless their hearts, just aren’t capable of filling beyond their own sidelines.
Hubert Davis had North Carolina three points away from a national title in his first year. Jon Scheyer had Duke 30 minutes away from the Final Four in his second year.
Both are very impressive.
Neither rattles cages the way his respective predecessor did.
That’s fine, but drama sells. So, too, do big personalities.
And in the case of Hurley and UConn, it is 100 percent authentic, wholly unapologetic.