Dan Hurley has UConn in the Final Four, and former Seton Hall teammates are loving it

The flurry of calls and texts between Seton Hall basketball alums of a certain age started late Saturday and continued through the weekend. As former Pirate Dan Hurley cut down the net after his dominant UConn team punched a ticket to the Final Four, a mix of pride, excitement and yes, a little bit of shock coursed through his old teammates.

Hurley, who played guard at the Hall from 1991-96, has openly detailed his struggles with alcohol and depression during his college days – and the challenges of living up to the high bar set by his father (iconic St. Anthony High School coach Bob Hurley) and older brother (Duke All-American Bobby Hurley).

“I’m so thrilled for Danny,” said Jerry Walker, a teammate at both St. Anthony and Seton Hall. “Obviously he had a rough time at Seton Hall, he always lived in Bobby’s shadow, and now he’s got Bobby (the head coach at Arizona State) living in his shadow. It was so good to see Bobby come out onto the court and give him a hug, and see his dad out there. That’s like my adopted family, the Hurleys.”

Another full-circle moment took place on the court after UConn romped Gonzaga in the West Regional final: Hurley was interviewed by Westwood One radio analyst P.J. Carlesimo, who of course coached him – and frequently butted heads with him – at the Hall. The scene blew Walker away.

“There’s no way I would have ever imagined that,” he said. “But it’s a round world. He put in the work and got the results, and P.J., I guarantee you, respects Danny’s coaching ability.”

John Yablonski, who played in Seton Hall's backcourt from 1993-97 and currently coaches basketball at Rumson-Fair Haven High School, said his former teammates fully appreciate the arc of Hurley's journey.

“Everybody is talking about it because it’s such a great story," he said. "Dan is a tough guy but he’s a good guy, so it’s great this is happening for him.”

'I didn't see this coming'

There’s much to respect. After graduating Seton Hall, Hurley coached as an assistant under Kevin Bannon at Rutgers (Walker said he tried but failed to get an assistant's post at Seton Hall) before entering the high school ranks and turning St. Benedict’s Prep of Newark into a national power. He became a college head coach at Wagner in 2010, quickly turning the Seahawks around, before leading Rhode Island to NCAA Tournament victories in 2017 and 2018.

Twice during his tenure at Rhode Island, Hurley rebuffed overtures from Rutgers for its head-coaching position. In 2018 he arrived at UConn and quickly restored that program’s winning ways with an intensity that reminds former Pirates of a mix between his father and Carlesimo.

“UConn is the perfect spot for him," Yablonski said. "They don’t have pro sports other than the WNBA, they’ve won big there before and they don’t mind a little fire, which (former coach) Jim Calhoun always had. I think it’s the perfect storm for him and he’s going to be successful for a lot of years. He’s made this run and I can see more coming.”

Getting to this point, however, was not a foregone conclusion.

“I didn’t see this coming from Danny as a teammate because he was such a clown,” said Levell Sanders, who played guard alongside Hurley for two years at Seton Hall and is now the head coach at Binghamton University. “He was hitting golf balls in the dorm room, stuff that probably would make him crazy now if one of his players did it, but I really believe that when you’ve been in that situation and you’ve done those things, it helps you understand what it takes to be better.”

Sanders remembers Hurley, as a player, getting into a heated argument with an assistant coach during a pregame shootaround.

“He knows people were coaching him the right way; he might not have liked it at the time, but he understands now that it was the best way, and that helped make him who he is now,” Sanders said. “The way he was coached and didn’t really respond do it, he’s now coaching that way and guys are responding to it.”

Bryan Caver, who was Hurley’s backcourt mate at the Hall for three years, loved that on Saturday he subbed five reserves into the game in the waning moments so they could say they played in a regional final.

“He can reach those players on a level that most coaches can’t because of the struggles he dealt with,” Caver said. “He’s taken all of that – being the son of a world-renown high school coach, and following his brother’s success and being compared to that – he dealt with so much and it’s prepared him for a moment like this. There is nothing he isn’t afraid of. He has no fear. He’s grown into this, and we’re all excited for him.”

Walker echoed that sentiment.

“His rough time at Seton Hall got him mentally tough, and now he can help his players get through adversity because he’s been through it,” he said. “I remember going into (visiting) arenas and the whole arena was like, ‘Bobby’s better!’ It used to drive him crazy. But look at him now.”

'There's a lot of pride'

Seton Hall has produced quite a line of coaches – current Pirate head man Shaheen Holloway led Saint Peter’s to a stunning Elite Eight appearance last year, Adrian Griffin and Mark Bryant are NBA assistants, Sanders and Donald Copeland are Division 1 skippers, and several alums coach in the high school ranks.

Though Hurley didn’t act like a future head coach in college, he was exposed to the Harvard of coaching educations during his formative years.

“I know a lot of people talk about his pedigree, but it does mean something,” Caver said. “He’s been around a great basketball mind his whole life. He’s always had a high basketball IQ and he’s a competitor. I don’t want to say I expected this, but it’s not surprising to me that he’s getting the most out of those kids.”

Walker, who saw Hurley a few months back at the latter’s 50^th birthday party at Jersey City’s famed White Eagle Hall (where St. Anthony used to practice; it's now a theater) said he sees Carlesimo’s sharp wit in the way Hurley interacts with the media.

“I’m really proud of him,” Walker said. “Hopefully he can bring the title back.”

Sanders texted Hurley Sunday morning: “Congratulations – the work is not done.”

Although UConn is a rival to Seton Hall, a bunch of former Pirates will be pulling for the Huskies in the Final Four.

“There’s a lot of pride, I’ll tell you that,” Sanders said. “There’s a lot of pride when you’ve got a guy you know, really know – not just somebody who is a friend from the industry – having that kind of success.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: UConn coach Dan Hurley heads to Final Four with Seton Hall support