Dan Hurley doesn’t mince his words and usually tells you exactly how he’s feeling. He didn’t have to open his mouth for you to know how much Sunday’s 77-75 loss to Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament stung for the UConn Huskies head coach.
Hurley, while holding back tears and moments from UConn’s first NCAA Tournament loss since 2022, snapping a 13-game win streak. Hurley has received a lot of hate over how arrogant he can be at times.
After UConn’s loss on Sunday, it was easy to forget why you wanted to hate Hurley. He was finally relatable. It was true emotion from a coach that was unbeatable in March for two straight seasons.
“I thought we played with tremendous honor,” Hurley said during a postgame interview. “We played with the heart of a championship program, a program that’s gone back to back. For a team to end what we really wanted to do, they were going to have to put us down.”
"There's honor in the way we went out."
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 23, 2025
An emotional Dan Hurley spoke with @tracywolfson after UConn's second round loss pic.twitter.com/cnjqUW0VO3
Florida did just that in what was probably their sloppiest game of the year, yet equally one of the most rewarding ones.
Dan Hurley reminds us he’s human with emotional interview following NCAA Tournament loss
Hurley has been one of if not, the most criticized college basketball coach. He ran through the NCAA Tournament for two straight seasons and became the villain. He came off as arrogant when he talked about how foolish it is to play an early-season tournament with three straight days of games.
He garnered more hate when he was seen barking at referees throughout the game and claiming he’s the best coach in college basketball. But on Sunday, none of that mattered to anybody. It was easy to relate to Hurley.
UConn wasn’t the dominant team this season it was the last two years. They didn’t win the Big East and was given the hardest path any back-to-back defending champion could have, being a No. 8 seed in the field.
After the game, you could see just how much he loves coaching and just how much this time of the year means to him. He wanted to lead UConn on an improbable run to prove just how good he was.
He wanted to take down one of the SEC powerhouses to prove UConn wasn’t going anywhere. The Huskies came up three points short of that. And you could see on Hurley’s face just how much it stung.
He reminded all of us he’s human and the good and bad side of the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, Hurley was on the wrong side, one he’s not too familiar with. Which is why the loss to Florida brought out all the emotions.