Dan Hurley’s new memoir, “Never Stop,” co-written with veteran sports journalist Ian O’Connor, has become a New York Times bestseller ahead of the UConn Huskies’ 2025 season.
O’Connor is known for his unauthorized biographies of sports icons like Bill Belichick and Derek Jeter. He said this rare collaboration with the UConn men’s basketball coach offered a chance to capture the more vulnerable side of a fiery champion who won back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024.
Exploring Hurley’s humanity
“I was hoping this book would bring out the more human qualities of Dan as a basketball coach,” O’Connor said. “He’s his toughest critic and sometimes even suffers from imposter syndrome — and that’s hard to believe for a coach who’s won back-to-back national championships.”
O’Connor has known the Hurley family since childhood. He refers to the family as “basketball royalty.” Hurley’s father, Bob Hurley, Sr., coached St. Anthony High School in New Jersey and turned the program into a national powerhouse – earning himself a spot as 1 of only 6 high school basketball coaches in The Basketball Hall-of-Fame.
Dan’s brother, Bobby Hurley, became one of history’s most celebrated college basketball players at Duke University and later went on to become a high NBA first-round draft pick.
Despite that luminous family name, O’Connor said Dan’s rise was anything but handed to him.
Hurley spent nearly a decade coaching high school basketball in Newark before climbing through the ranks at Wagner College and The University of Rhode Island. “He had to earn his way to the top,” O’Connor said. “People forget that.”
A coach shaped by struggle
Hurley’s path to success included a public battle with mental health.
O’Connor said Hurley’s openness about those struggles has helped him connect deeply with his players. “He’s opened his door to them 24/7 if they ever have any issues off the court,” O’Connor said. “I don’t think his players would play nearly as hard for him if they didn’t think he cared about them as human beings.”
Hurley continues to manage his mental well-being with journaling, meditation and yoga. “It’s a constant struggle,” O’Connor said. “He’s talked about that.”
A fiery sideline presence, but a cheerleader for his players
Though Hurley’s emotional sideline outbursts have made him a lightning rod, O’Connor insisted they mask a different reality. “He never berates an individual player during a game,” O’Connor said. “He’s there as a corner man, as a cheerleader. He remembers how it felt to be berated as a student athlete in front of thousands of people.”
Hurley, O’Connor said, is aware he sometimes goes too far. “The Maui Invitational last year was over the top,” he said. “He’s still working on that.”
Temptations and loyalty
Now in his seventh season leading UConn, Hurley has only been tempted once to coach somewhere else, according to O’Connor. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers pursued him in 2024. “That was real,” O’Connor said, adding that Hurley seriously considered jumping to the Lakers, but eventually said no out of loyalty to his players at UConn.
O’Connor added that the two-time national champion believes he needs more time to realize his dream UConn legacy. “I asked him, ‘When you leave UConn, will you have more national championships than Jim Calhoun’s three?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I believe so.’”
Dislike of the way modern teams are built
Hurley’s love of coaching has also been tested by the changing economics of college sports. O’Connor said the new landscape — defined by name, image, and likeness payments — isn’t one Hurley enjoys. “He just thought recruiting used to be about building relationships,” O’Connor said. “It’s now building a roster with your checkbook, and he hates that.”
It was that dislike of the modern pressures of college coaching that, O’Connor said, had Hurley considering stepping away from coaching this offseason. “But, those feelings passed,” he said.
Mentorship and maturity
Hurley’s emotional growth has been shaped, in part, by mentorship from UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma. After Hurley drew criticism for his behavior at the Maui Invitational, Auriemma reached out. “‘If you’re only coaching to win a national championship, you’ve lost your way,” O’Connor said, regarding what Auriemma told Hurley in that call.
He said Hurley took the message to heart with the help of his wife, Andrea, and a few trusted mentors.
“It’ll be fascinating to watch how Dan carries himself this coming season,” O’Connor said.
