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By Ricardo Sandoval
Contributing Sports Writer
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UConn head coach Dan Hurley finally reveals why he stayed with the Huskies instead of taking the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job.
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For a minute there, it appeared that the Lakers were the favorite to land Hurley after he had just led UConn to a second consecutive national championship. The Lakers stole the show, the day of Game 1 of the NBA Finals was about to start.
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It was all Lakers, and many thought that Hurley would make the jump from college to one of the premier jobs in all the sports.
Instead, Hurleyd decided to stay in the Northeast to search for the third consecutive title in college. During an interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Hurley finally explained why he skipped on the Lakers job.
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Hurley said that he wanted to continue working with the young players on his team.
"I love being a part of this transformation for the last point in a young man's life where you can really have a big impact on how their life is going to play out, like what the man becomes," Hurley told Bensinger. That, to me, was what I realized that I love about being a college coach that you don't get to do as an NBA coach because that's not the relationship there. "
The Lakers went big fish hunting and missed badly. Not only did they miss out on Hurley, but they didn't even make him a compelling offer to leave what he built in UConn for the bright lights of Los Angeles.
The Lakers fired Darivn Ham after an early-round exit to the Denver Nuggets in early May. After a month of speculation on who would be the next Lakers head coach, Hurley's name came out of nowhere and dominated the news cycle.
L.A. ultimately met with Hurley in early June, who was torn between joining the Lakers or staying at UConn. Rumors also swirled that Hurley sued the Lakers as a 'leverage' play, but he rejected that notion.
In the interview, Hurley was also asked if he wanted to become an NBA head coach eventually. The 51-year-old said he is unsure.
"I don't know. I don't know about that. If you're not going to take the Lakers job, then what job are you going to take," he said.
Hurley is staying put at UConn for the time being, and the Lakers will do their best to make it work with their new head coach, JJ Redick.
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