Credit: HarperCollins/Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
By Michael Grant on

The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor is a New York Times bestselling writer who specializes in unauthorized biographies. He has written about some of the most prominent figures in sports, including Aaron Rodgers, Derek Jeter, and Bill Belichick.

For his seventh book, he did something different. He collaborated with University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley. Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes to Be Great promises to give the reader an inside look at the two-time NCAA champion.

While Hurley is famous for his competitiveness, O’Connor said there is more to the man than his volatile public image. We caught up with the author to discuss his latest work, which will be released for purchase on September 30 and is now available for pre-order.

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: How did this idea come about?

Ian O’Connor: “After they won that second national championship, I called him. I was under contract to do a different book, but I just said to him, ‘I’ve known you and your family a long time. I think this is your time to do a book. You’ve gone back-to-back. Very few people have done that. You’re at the top of the college basketball world, probably already a Hall of Famer. It doesn’t have to be with me.’ He said, ‘No, no. I’ve been thinking about it. I want to do it, and I’d want to do it with you.’ So I said, ‘Fine.’ That was the genesis of it. Beyond winning the two back-to-back championships, I do think it’s a personal story. If you have the last name Hurley, people think a lot of things were probably given to you. In his case, that wasn’t the case. He really beat the odds in a lot of ways.”

Why should someone buy your book?

“He’s got a really profound story to tell, a personal story of overcoming. He was never supposed to be great like his father, like his brother. He was the other Hurley. He was someone who had struggled coming to terms with that and the burdens of being the other Hurley. It goes back to when he was a college player at Seton Hall, when he had severe depression. He quit the team because he couldn’t deal with the constant comparisons to his brother, who was a star point guard at Duke, and the weight of the Hurley name, given his father’s achievements at St. Anthony. His father is one of the few high school coaches in the Hall of Fame. He really had a mental health crisis as a student-athlete at Seton Hall.”

How bad did Dan Hurley’s mental health crisis get?

“Seton Hall fans were getting on his ass all the time. Opposing fans chanting, ‘Bobby’s better, Bobby’s better.’ Just constant verbal abuse from the crowd. His father even warned a couple of fans, ‘If you keep it up, there’s going to be a consequence to what you’re saying right now.’ His mother and sister had to move at times to get away from that verbal abuse. And yeah, Dan, he was drinking a lot and didn’t have a lot of self-worth. So, it got dark.

“There was a night when he was driving and he considered driving off the road and harming himself. There’s a nun at Seton Hall that he still stays in touch with. Her name is Sister Catherine Waters. She was a counselor at Seton Hall, and she really helped him a lot to see himself as having worth as a human being beyond the basketball court.”

Did he describe himself as suicidal?

“We did not use that word. So, I wouldn’t describe him as suicidal. What I would say is there was a night, it was a fleeting feeling of taking his own life. He looked at trees along the side of a highway on a drive back to Jersey City, and he thought of driving into those trees… It’s very serious. No, there’s no doubt about that. It was very serious. He was dealing with some very dark thoughts. And it was really that one night.”

Who else helped Dan Hurley turn his life around?

“George Blaney. Dan quit the team, then went back after a layoff, and George Blaney became his coach. George Blaney was from Jersey City, so he knew all about the Hurley family. George Blaney was also a much lighter touch than P.J. Carlesimo. Dan does not blame P.J. Carlesimo. Dan blames himself for being a disappointing player. George Blaney’s coaching style made him a much better player. And Dan, once he got away from playing and got into coaching, the light bulb flicked on, and he was off to the races.”

What is something most fans would be surprised to learn about Hurley?

“Dan never screams at an individual player in a game. The screaming is always directed at the adults, mostly the officials, but occasionally an assistant coach, and on rare occasions, the opposing coach. But never directed at an individual kid. He was screamed at when he was a college player, and he remembers how that made him feel. I did not know that, and I think the vast majority of college basketball fans have no clue about that. They just assume he’s a monster on the sidelines.”

Last year, Dan Hurley received criticism for his outbursts. Does he regret what he said after losing to Florida?

“Yeah, and particularly what it did, the position it put his media relations chief in. Had Dan not said what he said, that never would have happened. Bobby (Mullen) ends up taking intense criticism for multiple days. Bobby is a very nice person. He made a mistake, but he wouldn’t have made that mistake had Dan not said what he said.

“Initially, in my opinion, they were too hellbent on blaming the reporter who recorded that comment. He did his job. So, yeah, (Hurley) did regret that. Not only the position it put Bobby in, but also that he had a lot of respect for Florida and their coach. He did not want to take anything away from Florida there. It sounded like he was. I don’t think that was his intent.”

Dan Hurley: ‘I think people like me are really good for sports’

How close did Hurley come to taking the Lakers job?

“It was assumed that his wife was a big reason why he didn’t take the Lakers job, because she is such a Jersey girl and really has kept him in the Northeast. Her father passed away years ago. She’s very close to her mother and family. But his wife, Andrea, did give him the green light to take that Lakers job. His wife said, ‘Let’s go. I want to go to Los Angeles. Let’s do it before I change my mind.’ That’s the exact quote. She goes to give him a high five. Dan didn’t give her the high five because he wasn’t ready to agree to that.”

Why did he decide to stay?

“He had such a good thing going, a chance to three-peat. The other thing is, Alex Karaban pulled himself out of the draft and came back to play for Dan. So, now you’re going to leave that kid? Liam McNeeley was a five-star recruit. He decommitted from Indiana and committed to Connecticut, and now you’re going to walk out on him? That really wore on Dan. It would have been very tough to do that. They had a great thing going. ‘Let’s go for the three-peat.'”

What did you think of Hurley nearly quitting UConn to join Fox Sports?

“He seriously considered taking a gap year. We had multiple conversations about it toward the end of the season and afterward. After three decades of high-intensity coaching without a break, punctuated by a very challenging season on all fronts, Dan was totally cooked. Burned out. The changing landscape of major college sports didn’t help. Dan is not a fan of building a roster with a checkbook.

“I think he’d be great on TV. Beyond his vast institutional knowledge of the game, he’s naturally funny, self-deprecating, and a great storyteller. He would’ve made for a great tabloid sports columnist in a different life.”

Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes to Be Great will be released for purchase on September 30 and is available for pre-order.

About Michael Grant

Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.

View all posts by Michael Grant