UConn director of communications Bobby Mullen allegedly threatened to ruin a reporter’s life for filming a viral video of college basketball coach Dan Hurley at March Madness on Sunday evening. He blamed the reporter for spoiling the “lasting image of coach Hurley leaving the court” even though coach Hurley was the one who chose to say what he said in front of reporters.
If the entire sequence of events went according to eyewitness testimonies, it is a bad look for Mullen.
The Huskies lost by only two points in the Round of 32. They were on the wrong end of a bad call while up by three points with approximately four minutes remaining in the second half. Florida got possession after what was ruled as a UConn turnover even though it appeared as though the Gators touched the ball last. Hurley was furious.
Not long thereafter, the Huskies tried to draw a foul with less than 10 seconds left in a two-score game. Officials granted possession to the Gators anyway.
— – (@Spicoli_____) March 24, 2025
UConn was also called for four more fouls than Florida during the two-point loss. They essentially proved to be the difference.
With that being said, there were not any egregious officiating errors that cost the Huskies the win. None of the potential missed calls gave the game to the Gators.
UConn lost because it gave up TWO (2) offensive rebounds that turned into easy buckets for Florida off missed free throws down the stretch. That can’t happen. The game was called fair for both sides.
Hurley did not agree. The 52-year-old head coach made a tongue-in-cheek comment to Baylor (which was playing in the next game on the same court) as he walked back into the locker room with his players. He told the Bears that he hoped that the officials didn’t “f— them” the way that “they f—– his team.”
The entire exchange was captured on video by Joey Ellis, a sports reporter for Queen City News in Charlotte. His post on social media went extremely viral, which leads us to this latest development.
Enter Bobby Mullen. This guy:
The director of men’s basketball communications at the University of Connecticut threatened to “ruin Ellis’ life” if he did not delete the video from social media. I would reiterate that this is all “alleged,” but his comments were heard by multiple other reporters and staff on hand. Yikes.
After posting the clip of Dan Hurley leaving the floor post game in Raleigh, here’s an update with our latest reporting late Sunday night. @CSLonQCN pic.twitter.com/pOOvoIINhR
— Joey Ellis (@Jellis1016) March 24, 2025
Mullen later issued the following statement:
The lasting image of coach Hurley leaving the court should have been his walking off the court arm-in-arm with his seniors, overwhelmed with emotion. Instead, a reporter who was in an area he should not have been, recorded on his cellphone a private comment made to members of another coaching staff.
— Bobby Mullens
I reached out to Ellis for his side of the story but have yet to hear back. Without any specific knowledge of where reporters were or were not allowed to stand at this specific sporting event, I can only go off of what I know from experience. This specific video of Dan Hurley was filmed as he was exiting the floor. He was very clearly still in the public eye. Most, if not all members of the media are typically allowed in the tunnel at all times. We often see videos of players and coaches from a very similar vantage point.
This video was not filmed in the locker room. It was not recorded through unethical devices.
I do not see anything wrong with Joey Ellis’ video. He was doing his job. He happened to be in the right place at the right time to film a heated moment involving one of the greatest coaches of all-time. The video went viral on social media. Obviously.
For Mullen to take such an aggressive stance toward Ellis is unacceptable. No matter what happened, for a director of communications to threaten a reporter can be (maybe should be?) considered a fireable offense. That cannot happen.
For Mullen to then double down with “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve” is a terrible look for the program. He made the entire situation significantly worse when it is his job to make it better. Considering that his job is to avoid such poor optics, that too could be
Mullen wanted the lasting image of Dan Hurley to be different, but Dan Hurley said what he said. It happened. It was captured on video. A reporter reported on what he saw. End of story.
The initial threat was out of line. The subsequent statement trying to blame Ellis was just as ridiculous.