Dan Hurley isn’t going to leave UConn for the New York Knicks, who fired Tom Thibodeau as head coach on Tuesday.
“Not another summer of that,” Hurley said at the Aqua Turf Club, where his wife, Andrea, received the St. Clare Award at the Franciscan Sports Banquet in recognition of her community service, via Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant.
Hurley interviewed with the Los Angeles Lakers last summer. He came close to taking the job before signing an extension with UConn.
The Lakers wound up hiring JJ Redick.
Thibodeau was hired by the Knicks in 2020. He went 226-174 in the regular season and 24-23 in the playoffs and won the 2021 Coach of the Year Award.
New York reached the conference finals this year for the first time since 2000, losing to the Indiana Pacers in six games.
According to Ian Begley of SNY, Knicks president Leon Rose fired Thibodeau after meeting with his “top players.”
New York owner James Dolan was in the meeting, too.
“Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans,” Rose said in a statement. “This pursuit led us to the decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we’ve decided to move in another direction. We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach.
“Ultimately, we made the decision we feel is best for our organization moving forward. Tom will always be part of our Knicks family and we truly wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, the Knicks are interested in Jason Kidd and Ime Udoka. Kidd coaches the Dallas Mavericks, while Udoka coaches the Houston Rockets.
The Mavericks and Rockets are not expected to let the Knicks speak with Kidd and Udoka, respectively.
Thibodeau has coached the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves and Knicks. He has a .579 career win percentage as a head coach, the highest by any coach without a Finals appearance in NBA history (minimum 300 games coached), according to ESPN Research.
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