One of the most respected college basketball voices essentially said UCan’t do that to UConn coach Dan Hurley.
The coach of the two-time defending national champion Huskies has taken issue with criticism over his recent sideline antics involving berating the referees, which longtime analyst Jay Bilas called “just an excuse for bad behavior” Saturday on the set of ESPN’s “College Gameday.”
‘That’s who he is. Be authentic. And he’s competitive. Take Dan Hurley out of it and you can say that about any coach, but I think that’s just an excuse for bad behavior,” Bilas said. “My thing is more about the competitive advantage that is perceived by what they call ‘working’ the officials or trying to influence the officials.
“It’s not just when they cross the line once and lose their minds and get a technical and all that stuff. The referees can handle that. It’s the constant berating of officials throughout a game that fans think are influencing calls…and we need to deal with that. If it doesn’t influence calls then it’s really bad optics. Generally I believe college coaches behave poorly relative to NBA coaches. And I don’t think that’s a very good look.”
Hurley was shown being unrelenting in berating officials in a recent UConn game against Butler, and he said earlier this week that he wishes “they would put the camera on the other coach more” often.
I’m OK with it. That’s who I know Dan Hurley to be,” ESPN’s analyst Jay Williams countered. “I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do, but that’s who Dan Hurley is.
“I think sometimes in today’s society, we want everything to be [about] so much morality… It feels — I hate to use the word — but it feels a little bit soft at times about how we treat players and how we treat [officials], but it’s a competitive game. When you’re as competitive as Dan Hurley is…these guys lose their minds sometimes with the competitive juices.”
Williams added that he refers to such coaches and former players — including, he said, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant — as “competitive p–ks.”
And he apparently meant that as a compliment.
“Sometimes when you’re that competitive you say things that are not right, but you tell me where the lie is,” Williams said. “Dan Hurley is the best coach in the country…And I don’t see what’s wrong with it.”
