UConn’s Dan Hurley consulted Bulls’ Billy Donovan when considering HC contract with the Lakers | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

When Dan Hurley was faced with a choice between staying at UConn or taking the head coaching job of the Los Angeles Lakers, he consulted an NBA coach who faced a similar decision more than a decade ago.

The Huskies head coach sought advice from Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, according to David Borges of CT Insider. Donovan won two championships with Florida in 2006 and 2007 and was offered the head coaching position for the Orlando Magic, which he initially accepted before withdrawing his commitment to return to Gainesville.

“We didn’t dig into the Lakers situation or their personnel,” Donovan said. “I think Danny had to go through everything he went through. He could find out the inner workings of the Lakers. I don’t know anything about that … Danny had to go through that himself.”

Hurley was coming off back-to-back championships with UConn, but he was offered a job to lead one of the most historic franchises in NBA history, as well as one of the greatest players of all time in LeBron James. The lure of the Lakers’ head coaching job wasn’t enough to lure him out of the college ranks, though.

“My whole mindset, the type of coaching that suits me best right now, is definitely college,” Hurley said, per Borges. “I want to control my own destiny as best as I can. I schedule my games, I pick my players, I hire my staff. I decide how long we’re going to practice, when we’re going to practice.”

When Donovan was offered a head coaching job in the NBA, he went so far as to accept a five-year, $27.5 million contract before reconsidering and returning to Florida. He remained with the Gators until 2015, when he officially joined the NBA ranks by accepting a deal to become head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Since then, Donovan has remained in the NBA, coaching the Thunder until 2020, when he took over as head coach of the Bulls.

Whether Hurley, who is eight years younger than Donovan, will follow a similar path remains to be seen, but for now, he still has his work cut out for him with the Huskies.

UConn returns a handful of talent from the national championship team and also boasts the sixth-best recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports.

Only one team has won three championships in a row, the legendary UCLA dynasty of the 1960s and ’70s, but Hurley is looking to make history this year. The Lakers’ pursuit of him only heightens the level of coach Hurley, and another championship seems within reach for the Huskies with Hurley’s return.