Bobby Hurley is a Scary Hire for ASU Basketball
By Eli Burk
I want to take all you readers on a trip down memory lane. In 2006, after 8 years with the program, Herb Sendek, a former assistant to Rick Pitino at Kentucky, replaced Rob Evens as head coach of the Arizona State Men’s basketball program. Sendek was the head coach at North Carolina State and previously had no ties to the West Coast.
Come back to 2015, and we have pretty much the same scenario. The only difference I see is that Herb Sendek had 12 years of head coaching experience under his belt, Bobby Hurley only has two.
Now I want to state that I do not think Hurley is a bad coach, in fact I think he is a fantastic coach. I had Buffalo being a Cinderella in the NCAA tournament this year. But he has no ties to the West coast.
Mar 20, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Buffalo Bulls head coach Bobby Hurley (center) during the second half against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports
Personally, once I heard the news that Capel wanted to stay at Duke, the first thought in my mind was, Steve Lavin has to be the front-runner for the position. Lavin has experience as a head coach in the PAC-12 (it was the PAC-10 back in his day) and has good international ties when it comes to recruiting. After Lavin came the thought of Josh Pastner from Memphis. Not only does Pastner have ties to the desert, but he served as an assistant to Lute Olsen AND John Calipari. Plus he is a phenomenal recruiter. Never in my mind did I think Bobby Hurley would be considered the best possible candidate.
So now we stand here with a former gritty guard, who preaches toughness, intensity, and defense. ISN’T THAT WHAT ASU HAD WITH HERB SENDEK!?
Now there are some things that Hurley does better than Sendek. First, he can recruit to a certain extent. Sure he can talk about what his hopes are for the team itself, but can he sell the culture at Tempe? Can he sell student life on campus? Those are crucial to landing big name players.
So now we stand here waiting to see what happens with the direction of this struggling basketball program. ASU plans to introduce Hurley at 10 a.m. today beginning a new chapter in a program that definitely needs a new spark.