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5:46PM - This is still unconfirmed but ESPN is going with it.
Bobby Hurley is the new coach at Arizona State, multiple industry sources told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 9, 2015
Power conference or not, few Bulls fans would have guessed that the school to hire Bobby Hurley away from Buffalo would be a middling power conference program in the Pacific time zone. But with today's news out of Tempe, that's exactly what happened.
After two seasons and a 42-20 record, Bobby Hurley will be leaving Buffalo to take over the Arizona State outfit. While he was in Buffalo, Hurley's teams claimed two division titles on a 25-11 record against Mid-American Conference opponents, a MAC Championship, and a trip to the Dance 25-11 in the Mid American Conference. His teams have also produced the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and an AP All-America Honorable Mention in each of his seasons with Buffalo.
Hurley enjoyed a legendary career at Duke and too-short stint in the NBA, but left basketball for a time before joining his younger brother Dan's coaching staff at Wagner in 2010. In 2012, the Hurleys took coaching positions at Rhode Island, and the following year, Buffalo hired Bobby to replace Reggie Witherspoon.
Hurley was rumored to be one of the front runners for the recent opening at DePaul, but the coach reportedly turned down the position after an extremely brief interview in Chicago. Recently ,he told both ESPN and Sports Illustrated he was focused on coaching Buffalo. But when Jeff Capel turned down the Sun Devils, Hurley became a trendy name once again and was finally connected to the ASU vacancy Wednesday evening.
In Tempe, Hurley will be replacing Herb Sendek (who preceded Charlie Coles at Miami) but never advanced to the Sweet 16 with the Sun Devils despite nine years and a 155-133 overall record.
There's no doubt that athletic director Danny White has already put together a contingency list for replacements to find Hurley's replacement. One would assume that current UB assistant Nate Oats is on the short list. We'll of course have much more on Buffalo's third coaching search of the 2014-15 year starting immediately.