Bobby Hurley Has Tough Road Ahead Of Him
A couple of days have passed since ASU hired Bobby Hurley to be their new basketball coach and it’s been met with nothing but rave reviews.
Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic, who has been a big-time critic of the ASU program in the past, called the hiring of Hurley “a game changer.” Here’s a bit of what he had to say.
"If you are a future NBA millionaire who wants to spend his collegiate year(s) in sunny Arizona, there is a much better option 110 miles down the road. Fact.Except Bobby Hurley has a really big name. His hunger and passion are off the charts. He still has a chip on his shoulder. It’s stunning that ASU could pull in a name like this, especially when their primary target was a lesser candidate from the same Duke family.Unlike Rob Evans and Herb Sendek, Hurley goes splash. He doesn’t know the West Coast, but the West Coast knows him. He has powerful connections on the East Coast, and he’ll pull the occasional player looking to get far away from home. He has energized the program without coaching a game. You can already feel the difference."
Hiring Hurley isn’t just getting positive feedback at the local level, but at the national level as well. ABCNews.com called Hurley a “popular hire” and Hurley has been talked about plenty on ESPN over the recent days too.
I agree with all the things that have been said over the past couple of days. Hurley has brought an excitement and a buzz to this program which I haven’t seen in a very long time.
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All of that is great, but Hurley has a lot of work ahead of him in order to turn this program around. As Bickley brought up in his piece, Wells Fargo Arena isn’t the greatest facility in the world and pro sports dominates the landscape here in the Valley.
Most importantly, there’s the fact that ASU hasn’t been a consistent winner in a very long time. Herb Sendek did a lot of nice things during his time in Tempe, but he just didn’t win enough games to warrant giving him another season.
For Hurley, it begins with being able to sell ASU to recruits. There’s a lot of things that the university has going for it; the institution itself, the great weather, beautiful coeds and the fact that Tempe is a pretty fun place for a 18-year-old to live.
The new Sun Devils head coach can not only sell all the perks that ASU brings to the table, but he can also sell himself to recruits as well.
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His basketball pedigree is fantastic. Hurley played for Mike Krzyzewski in college, he won a pair of titles at Duke, played several years in the NBA and has a legendary father who won a ton of games and state championships in high school.
If you are a recruit picking a college, that’s a guy you want to play for.
Hurley is also going to have to round out his coaching staff. Levi Watkins, who was on Hurley’s staff at Buffalo, will join former Sendek assistant Stan Johnson as Hurley’s two assistants so far.
In my opinion, it would be smart of Hurley to add a west coast guy to his staff. It goes without saying how much of a gold mine California is in terms of recruiting and getting blue chippers out of that state will go a long way to Hurley being successful in Tempe.
Hurley can do all of these things, but in order for him to make this program a consistent winner, he’s going to need help from the school.
That means putting more money into the program with revamping Wells Fargo Arena and the other facilities at the top of the list. You can be the greatest college coach in the world, but if you don’t have the top of the line facilities, it’s going to be very hard for you to bring in top recruits.
The university took a big step in the right direction by bringing Hurley in. They need to take that next step by making a bigger investment in the program itself.
I for one hope that happens.