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Before Dan Hurley was a national championship winning head coach at UCONN, he was a player at Seton Hall. At one point or another, he showed interest in playing for South Carolina.
A popular band from the 1990s inadvertently prevented that marriage with the Gamecocks as Hurley came to a sobering realization. He wasn’t built for life in the south!
More from The State Newspaper:
“[Dan Hurley] revealed on a podcast last month that he had an epic recruiting visit to USC as a high school prospect roughly 30 years ago … but decided against the school for his own good.
Although the timing of Hurley’s recruiting trip to Columbia is unclear, it likely would’ve been at some point in 1989, 1990 or early 1991, when he was an upperclassman star point guard for his father, Bob Hurley, at the New Jersey basketball powerhouse St. Anthony and [George] Felton (who was fired after the 1990-91 season) was still coaching at USC.
By all accounts, Hurley had a good time.
Hurley stated, while making an appearance on the Ryen Russillo Podcast, that on his final night in Columbia, he attended a Hootie & the Blowfish concert.
Things got out of hand!
“My last night of the visit was a Hootie & the Blowfish concert, which caused me to get on that airplane just incredibly hung over, and I knew that there was no way physically that I could keep up with a Southern school from a party standpoint.”
-Dan Hurley on his visit to South Carolina
Hootie & the Blowfish formed at the university in the late 1980s, led by singer Darius Rucker who still reps garnet and black at every opportunity.
They found mainstream fame with the album Cracked Rear View, still one of the top selling studio releases in US history.
Dan Hurley’s night with the band apparently backfired for the Gamecocks!
That comes as no surprise to those who’ve attended the college. South Carolina annually makes lists as one of the top party schools in America. It apparently showed on Hurley’s visit!
The point guard obviously didn’t think he could juggle athletics, academics, and nightlife in Columbia. He’d go on to have a productive career at Seton Hall before getting into coaching.
It all worked out for Hurley, who’s now coming off of his second straight national title with the UCONN Huskies. That success landed him some interest from the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason, though he ultimately decided life on the West Coast wasn’t best for him, either.
He chose to spurn LA and return to Storrs for the 2024-25 season where he’ll defend his crown on the hardwood yet again.