Before the Los Angeles Lakers hired JJ Redick, they offered UConn’s Dan Hurley a six-year, $70 million deal to jump to the NBA. It forced a real decision — chase history in Storrs or take one of basketball’s biggest jobs. Hurley chose to stay. And now, after revisiting that moment on The Dan Patrick Show, he’s revealed that Tom Izzo played a major role in how he made that call.

On a recent episode of The Dan Patrick Show, Hurley shared the role Izzo played in his decision. “Coach Izzo, he walked me through just, you know, his thought process when he went through the decision-making of making that move to the NBA and the pros and cons.”

Hurley continued, “The point that the coach had made to me was, you know, hey, ‘I think you really got to consider our sport right now. It’s so unregulated. It’s such a mess.’ Coach has been there for me on lots of different things, and I’ve studied coach for a long time, like I have all the great coaches taking advice from all of them.”

But Izzo wasn’t telling him to stay. “I told him to seriously look at it because I could see where college basketball was going,” Izzo told the media. He saw the NIL chaos, the transfer portal mess, and thought the NBA was worth a hard look. Hurley listened. He took it seriously. And then he said no anyway.

In the end, Hurley turned the Lakers down and chose to stay at UConn. His decision wasn’t just professional — it was personal, shaped heavily by conversations with his inner circle, especially his wife Andrea.

The offer itself was massive, but beyond the money, the chance to coach the Lakers made it a once-in-a-career opportunity — one Hurley still chose to walk away from.

For Hurley, staying wasn’t just about basketball — it was about continuing a legacy of developing players at the college level, something Izzo subtly reminded him of during those conversations.

How the Lakers pursuit of Dan Hurley unfolded

The offer came about a month after Hurley won back-to-back NCAA titles. The Lakers, searching for a culture-setter, viewed him as the perfect fit. As talks progressed, the uncertainty grew to the point where many believed he was ready to make the jump.

Even his wife, Andrea, spoke about how difficult it truly was. A literal countdown in the end. “All day long, we kept going back and forth. So that night, many tears later, we said, ‘Okay, let’s do it at the count of three, let’s do stay or leave.’ And we did 1 2 3, text. And thank goodness we both sent stay,” she recounted previously.

After listening to her and others in his close circle, Dan Hurley rejected the offer, citing family and a greater sense of purpose in college basketball.

Izzo understood the weight of that decision better than most, having turned down NBA offers from Cleveland in 2010 and Atlanta in 2000. His message to Hurley balanced both sides — consider the opportunity, but understand what you’d be leaving behind. “I would hate to lose him because I think he’s all that is right about college basketball. He cares about the kids, he cares about the game. He has to care about the game because of his dad.”

That connection runs deep. Hurley’s father, Bob Hurley Sr., is one of only three high school coaches inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Across 45 seasons at St. Anthony’s in Jersey City, he won 26 state titles, four national championships, and developed more than 150 Division I players.

Shaping the next generation of talent isn’t a career choice for the Hurleys; it’s a family obligation.

Hurley ultimately chose to stay and chase a third straight national title, something not accomplished since John Wooden. He fell short of that goal, but his decision still defines where he stands in today’s game — committed to college basketball at a time when many are questioning its direction.