Dan Hurley would owe UConn $1.875 million if he leaves to coach the Los Angeles Lakers, who are reportedly interested in hiring the Naismith College Coach of the Year. But taking another NCAA gig would cost Hurley—or his new employer—significantly more.
Hurley last year signed a six-year, $32.1 million employment contract that runs through March of 2029. The deal, a copy of which was obtained by Sportico via records request, includes two parallel payment structures should he leave early: one for NBA jobs, and one for other D1 college jobs. In contrast to the $1.875 million owed if he goes to an NBA team, Hurley would owe UConn $7.5 million if he left the school tomorrow for another NCAA gig.
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Writing these buyouts into coaches’ contracts is a common way that schools protect themselves from in-demand coaches raising their profiles and leaving for other opportunities. Hurley has coached the Huskies for the past six years, leading UConn to four NCAA tournaments and back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024.
However, it’s rare for the buyouts to distinguish between college and NBA jobs. (Hurley’s previous UConn contract made no such distinction.) These fees are often paid by the team doing the hiring and are another part of the calculus of landing their desired candidate. When UConn hired Hurley in 2018, for example, the school paid his $1 million buyout at Rhode Island, while also including language in his contract which said the school would also neutralize any tax obligations associated with the payment.
The Lakers are “targeting” Hurley as their next coach, ESPN reported Thursday morning. The story says the NBA team, whose roster includes LeBron James, is “preparing a massive, long-term contract offer,” though it did not provide any specifics. The highest-paid coaches in the NBA make more than $10 million, according to Sportico’s calculations, a bit more than Kansas’s Bill Self, the top-paid coach in college. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich leads the way at $16 million, followed by Monty Williams of the Detroit Pistons at $13.1 million.
Hurley’s contract—which he signed last June, after his first NCAA title but before his second—paid him about $4.9 million this past year, including a $500,000 retention bonus paid in November. That doesn’t include a $500,000 bonus for winning the national title and a handful of other performance bonuses.
ESPN said the Lakers have already made preliminary contact with Hurley. A representative for the Lakers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. An email sent to Hurley’s UConn address wasn’t returned.
Earlier this year, Hurley was asked about the possibility of his leaving UConn. He joked that he wouldn’t ask his wife, a New Jersey native, to relocate. He then added that he was focused on winning a third straight national title. “I mean, we just went to Rhode Island, which I had to drag her to, and then to Connecticut,” he said, according to ESPN. “I got her closer [to New Jersey]. And now further? I can’t afford a divorce right now, too. I just started making money.”
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