UConn men’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley to receive key to Jersey City Tuesday
It wasn’t long after the UConn men’s basketball team claimed the national championship when Dan Hurley uttered, “I’m from Jersey City, and this is how people from Jersey City act.”
Hurley credits the city, where he grew up as his father doubled as a high school coach and a probation officer, for nearly all of his character traits, positive and negative. He put his love for the city on display throughout all of March and into April, as UConn dominated its way from Albany to Las Vegas and then finally lifted the trophy in Houston.
On Tuesday, that love will be reciprocated.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and the city council have decided to award Hurley the key to the city on Tuesday. The event will be live streamed on the “City of Jersey City” government Facebook page beginning at 5 p.m.
“I’m just lucky that I’ve got an amazing wife, Andrea, and I have two incredible sons in Danny and Andrew that are tough, strong Jersey people that can handle both the internal and external anxiety and pressure that you feel by being in such a prominent position,” Hurley said during the team’s tournament run. “The way my dad, and the way Jersey City raised me and my brother… it doesn’t faze me even when it hits its lowest. Obviously you get down at different times, but when you’re as tough as Hurley’s are, as people, it’s not that bad.”
Hurley, in his fifth year as head coach at UConn, began his coaching career at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey, where he also taught history. His father, Bob Sr., was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for his tremendous success at St. Anthony High in Jersey City, where he won 26 state titles. Bob Sr. still hosts Hurley Family basketball camps in Jersey City.
In the three weeks since the blue and white confetti came trickling down from the rafters in Houston, Hurley and staff found time between player meetings and recruiting calls to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange April 12. Jordan Hawkins, a Maryland native who declared for the NBA Draft on ESPN April 7 with Hurley by his side, threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Camden Yards April 13 before the Baltimore Orioles played the Oakland A’s.
Plans for a ceremonial first pitch at a New York Mets game are expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, while The Athletic reported Monday that New Englanders Donovan Clingan, a Bristol native, and Alex Karaban, from Southborough, Mass., have plans to throw out a first pitch before a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park.
Also in the coming weeks, the team will be honored at the State Capitol building in Hartford for “Husky Day” and will eventually make its way to celebrate with President Joe Biden at the White House.
