When Dan Hurley won his second consecutive title in April, hardly did he know that ‘he was destined for greatness.’ The 2x NCAA Championship-winning coach was offered a job with the NBA franchise LA Lakers. However, after much consideration, Hurley decided to reject the offer in June, citing his family, especially his wife, as the key reason. Now, after four months, as the NCAA 2024-25 season is about to begin, Andrea Hurley recounts what transpired during that crucial week that got her to advise her husband not to take the offer.

On Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning America, Andrea alongside her husband Dan Hurley, divulged the details about the week she had once described as the worst week of her life. “All day long we kept going back and forth. So that night, many tears later, we said ‘okay, let’s do… and the count of three… let’s do stay or leave.” And we did 1 2 3… text. And thank goodness we both sent stay,” Andrea recounted.

When Hurley was offered a job with the Lakers for a 6-year contract worth $70 million, it was termed as a game-changer move by many. Hurley took his time and discussed it with his family, but decided not to take up the offer. Instead, surprisingly, he decided to continue his job at Storrs, coaching the Huskies for a much lesser $32 million for the same span. According to reports, the two main factors in his turning down the offer were his family and mentees.

Hurley revealed that in the initial few days of the offer, his wife got “violently angry and emotional.” Meanwhile, Andrea described this phase as “the worst week of my life.”  However, she later accepted that “looking back, it’s probably going to be like the best. It really was the best week.”

In the beginning, she did not like the idea of having to leave Storrs as she had taken a liking for the place and Hurley too had accomplished something nearly impossible by taking his team to two Championship titles. “We’re just going to pick up and leave, like, we’re just, you’re just so good at this. Like, why? Why? Like why?” she reflected on her dilemma back in June as per Fox News. In the recent video, she also revealed how that decision came to be. Meanwhile, Hurley gave his side of the story in the latest interview.

Dan Hurley reveals his ‘transformational’ reason behind turning down LA Lakers’ offer

Hurley was present on the In Depth with Graham Bensinger, when he gave his reason for not going with the Lakers. While everyone knew that his family did not want to relocate, the 51-year-old shed light on his relationship with his players. As per his own admittance, one of the most difficult parts of the offer was to talk to his players before flying to LA. Therefore, after consulting with his wife and contemplating about his players, Hurley decided to stay with the Huskies.

“I love being a part of this transformation for the last point in a young man’s life where you can really have a big impact on how their life is going to play out. Like what the man becomes. That, to me, was what I realized that I love about being a college coach that you don’t get to do as an NBA coach because that’s not the relationship there,” Hurley stated on In Depth with Graham Bensinger.

This year, Hurley clearly transformed four lives as all of these athletes were accepted into the NBA. Though he lost his starting five, Hurley would be able to make an impact. While Tristen Newton was drafted in the second round by the Indiana Pacers, Stephon Castle was a fourth-overall pick in the NBA. Meanwhile, two other stars, Cam Spencer and Donovan Clingan, were selected during the second round and seventh overall picks respectively.

“I don’t know. I don’t know about that. If you’re not going to take the Lakers job, then what job are you going to take,” the Huskies head coach had told Bensinger about his future NBA plans. And now that Andrea has come to the fore to describe what transpired between them, it looks like it wasn’t just a decision due to pressure from his family, instead, Dan too wanted the same.