For days since January 21, 2025, if one wanted to understand Dan Hurley’s intensity, the list had a new gain from his outburst at the Butler game. “Don’t turn your back on me. I’m the best coach in the f—— sport,” he blurted as the ref broke away mid-conversation. It became a point of reference soon— mockery and comparisons as the UConn Huskies rode down the path of inconsistency. But if you ask the head coach himself, that yell was rather empty. If anything, the motive was no different from the one behind his ever-so-often fired-up antics.

During his interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes piece “A Method to His Madness,” the UConn head coach revisited the viral moment when Jon Wertheim brought it up. “Help us reconcile that,” the correspondent asks.

“I’m complex,” Hurley began. “Now listen, I had no idea that — if I knew the camera was on me, there’s no way I woulda said it. But I’m embarrassed.” Now, that’s a varying reaction from the first time the head coach was asked about the incident. “Did I say that?” he had asked when a reporter brought it up during the post-game conference. Then, Hurley would go on to draw the focus towards the larger picture behind the moment going viral— media often seemed too eager to capture the head coach in his element.

“What was the game today on? FS1? I just wish they’d put the camera on the other coach more… I just wish they would show these other coaches losing their minds at the officials… I see the other coaches just as demonstrative as I am… I just wish they would not have the camera on me 90% of the time,” he had called out in January, right after the incident.

Now, Hurley is not wading off the blame for his antics or playing victim. He grew up on the Lakers-Celtics rivalry and the Big East competition of the 80s and 90s. So, he knows the influence of the desperateness and intensity that carries on to his coaching. Which is why he makes clear this is the situation he has created for himself. But only if Rick Pitino’s animated moments in screaming at his players or calling out the refs for fouls during the game against Baylor and Thad Matta’s outburst that led him to storm out of the press conference were as highlighted!

Nonetheless, here we are. As Hurley admits, he has had one too many instances to have the cameras on him. He even began the season on that note when he dropped to his knees in a game against Memphis. Stomping his foot, clapping aggressively, hyping the crowd, or arguing with fans– Hurley’s just too expressive. That has got him in trouble too. But there’s a good reason the coach is fired up so often. The motive we talked about.

“When I get into it, sometimes I will say or do anything I think may give me some type of an advantage either with an official or with firing my team up, or with carrying myself with a confidence and a swagger that is going to get my team the ability to play better,” he adds on 60 Minutes. UConn nation knows Hurley has needed a lot of that this season.

A team that entered as no.3 has crumbled bit by bit to find itself being projected to earn a No. 8 seed. The Huskies have failed to the very intensity their coach wears, and he hasn’t let them off easy– calling them ‘soft’ at every opportunity. They are ready to hop on the Hurley train now, and pick up the pieces as March Madness nears.

So rest assured, even if the head coach admitted he was embarrassed, he isn’t stopping with his sideline tactics. He knows he needs it, the players need it, and the fans too. Plus, there’s a very specific reason he wasn’t very proud of his ‘best coach’ remark.

Dan Hurley reasons his embarrassment

Well, yes. This wasn’t the first time Dan Hurley admitted he was embarrassed about his remark. The first time he did, it did not garner much attention. In line with the coach’s frustration over media focus? Anyway, speaking to Hearst Media’s Mike Anthony as early as Feb 6th, the 2-time championship-winning coach said, “When I do see other coaches and talk to them, I’m embarrassed that I said that. It makes me feel like a real ass.” 

The realization really hit Hurley when he spoke to other greats in the field. Tom Izzo for one and Bill Self. For 30 years he has coached at Michigan State, Izzo has never had a losing season. His 26 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances? The longest. Self holds no lesser success in his 32-year career either, making it to the Hall of Fame. Hurley realises the comparison he has made. “ I can’t believe I put myself on a pedestal compared to someone I idolize,” he had said. “I feel like an a–.” 

So Hurley isn’t complaining about the backlash. He addressed change, instead, but never in the approach. The coach entered his career wanting to bring desperation into his game and he isn’t toning down on that. After all, what’s a basketball game without some tension, intensity, and emotions?