Loyalty Tough to Define

We see this time after time after time.  A small school hires a new coach.  The new coach does a great job and then is courted by major programs that can offer him not only the money but the resources to thrive.  It happens in college football and college basketball every year and as much as we loathe it, it’s not going away.

Bobby Hurley is the latest example of the continuous saga called the courting of the coach.  Hurley was the great player, the point guard on two back-to-back NCAA championship teams at Duke in 1991 and 1992.  He was a fringe player in the NBA whose career ended when he nearly lost his life in an automobile accident.  After years of living life and doing different things, he followed his DNA  and started coaching.  We know it’s in his blood.  His dad is a legendary high school coach in New Jersey; his brother a successful college coach, first at Wagner and now at Rhode Island.  Playing and learning the game from Coach K at Duke only added to his knowledge and thirst to be a coach.

Bobby helped brother Danny at Wagner and it was a bit of a surprise that an assistant coach would get the job at the University at Buffalo.  Many thought that Bobby Hurley had not paid his dues to be a head coach at a Division I program.  But, Danny White, the Bulls athletic director believes in branding and the Hurley name is synonymous with college basketball.  Most 17 and 18 year olds don’t know who Bobby Hurley the player was, but their fathers do, so when Bobby Hurley sends that letter or makes that phone call, attention is given.

Today, Bobby Hurley is a hot commodity.  DePaul University, a Big East member with eight straight losing seasons courted the current Buffalo coach.  The DePaul job has a lot going for it.  It’s in a basketball hotbed, Chicago, where recruits are sitting pretty to be courted.  It’s in a conference that saw six of its 10 teams get invited to the NCAA Tournament, and the pay is sensational.  Oliver Purnell, who recently resigned was making $2.2 million per season and compared to Hurley’s $320,000 plus incentives, the bump in pay would make most of us make the move.

The frustrating part is what Hurley—and most coaches---say after the season.  Hurley professed allegiance to Buffalo, stating that they had more to accomplish in the upcoming years.  For the Buffalo sports fan, that had to be music to their collective years.  Buffalo is a long suffering sports town.  Except for Triple A baseball (2004, 1997, 1998), the city hasn’t seen a championship since the 1965 Buffalo Bills and that was in the AFL, which many felt inferior to the NFL.  Buffalo has never been the king of any sport, in fact in these the present times they are rooting for the Buffalo Sabres to LOSE games to secure either the first or second pick in the upcoming NHL Draft.  In Hurley, they got a guy who got the Bulls over the hump and into the NCAA Tournament and before the tournament even ends, he may bolt for DePaul.

The other unsettling part is that this will not end.  Since Hurley doesn’t get the DePaul jump, he will be courted for bigger jobs in 2016, 2017, 2018 and so on.  In some ways, you can’t blame him.  In the coaching business, you must strike when you’re the hot guy and right now, Hurley is receiving the accolades for guiding the Bulls to the MAC Championship.  And, because the MAC is a one bid league, we all know that Hurley’s Bulls could go 27-7 next year, lose in the MAC tournament and get stuck in the NIT, ala Murray State (which won 25 straight games in 14-15).

Some guys do resist it.  Gonzaga’s Mark Few is the prime example.  He could have left the Zags many times, but always stays put in the little West Coast Conference and for the first time in his coaching career is in a Regional Final.  But most take the money, the prestige and the breathing room that goes with being a bigger conference that gets multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament.  Few is to the point where he doesn’t even get calls anymore because they know he won’t leave.

Hurley is a different case.  He is not Mark Few.  His track record consists of just two seasons as a head coach.  He has recruited some good players, had success with junior college transfers and appears loaded and ready for another NCAA run.  The fans in WNY are not thinking of just making the NCAA Tournament in 15-16, they believe that the Bulls might be one of those cinderellas capable of Sweet 16 run.  If you have veteran players, it can be done.  We’ve seen George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Wichita State and Butler make Final Four runs and we all saw Gordon Hayward’s 50 footer roll of the rim against Duke in the 2010 title game.

Does Hurley owe the University at Buffalo more time?  We know that Buffalo can’t pay Hurley what DePaul can, and as much as we like to think it’s not about money, it is.  But, taking money out of the equation for just a moment, Buffalo took a chance on a guy who had not coached anywhere before and really, had minimal experience as an assistant coach.  Saying that Buffalo stuck their neck out for Hurley is a stretch, but it was a curious move that so far has yielded tremendous results.  Based on all this, should Hurley stay at Buffalo to see the Bulls through; to see if they can repeat as MAC champions?  Of course, he may not get the DePaul job and he may be back, but how will that affect him in the future?  Will he be coaching Buffalo with one eye, with his other on the prestigious, more lucrative jobs?

The Buffalo sports fan is a tough fan.  They think Buffalo is a great place to live and work and raise a family.  They defend their harsh winters even though deep down, they despise them.  Jim Boeheim has always said that Syracuse is the greatest city in the world, and even though Central New Yorkers know that’s not the case, they love him for saying that.  Hurley however is not from Buffalo.  When he took the job, he was thinking that it was a place where he could establish himself, build up his resume and leave for allegedly greener pastures.  There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, it should be admired.   But, is two years enough?   Is that really enough time to build up such a resume?  And, if he stays, will the Buffalo fans turn on him, knowing that he had one foot out the door and eventually, it will be both feet.

Hurley could have said no to DePaul,  that he has more work to do at Buffalo, but he didn’t do that.  He might be using DePaul to get more money from Buffalo, but my thinking is that he believes that coaching the Blue Demons is a great opportunity.  There is nothing wrong with Hurley doing that, but by talking to DePaul he has shown his cards, and though that’s okay, it might be wise for Buffalo to let him go and get somebody else to coach the talented Bulls next season.