"You'll be the laughing stock of high school basketball": When Dan Hurley's dad, Bob, delivered a passionate speech ahead of 2008 state title game

Before Dan and Bobby Hurley were star coaches on the college basketball scene, their dad Bob was a legendary coach in his own right. Vintage New Jersey on Instagram shared Hurley's speech to his St. Anthony High School players before the 2008 state title game.

"In your careers of having won no championships, tomorrow is the biggest game of your life," Hurley said. "What do we have? We got bullsh*t, we got excuses, we got faces."

Hurley got brutually honest with his team about what would happen if they didn't win the state title.

"If you lose tomorrow, you'll be the laughing stock of high school basketball," Hurley said.

St. Anthony had an undefeated season heading into the championship game and was seeking its first state title since 2004. The top-ranked Friars dominated over Trenton Catholic to win the New Jersey state championship 77-44.

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With the win, Hurley's squad set a national record for most high school boy's basketball state championships with 25. Hurley coached at St. Anthony's from 1972 to 2017 and transformed the basketball program into a nationally renowned powerhouse.

In his lengthy career, Hurley won 28 state high school championships, including nine in a row. He led the Friars to 18 undefeated seasons and four USA Today national championships. Along the way, he was named the USA Today National Coach of the Year three times.

Hurley was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2010, cementing his legacy as a legendary high school basketball coach.

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Dan Hurley's coaching career

Bob Hurley bred another generation of Hurley coaching stars. Before Bobby and Dan Hurley were known for their coaching success, they played for their father at St. Anthony High School. Bobby went on to spend his college career at Duke, while Dan played at Seton Hall.

Now, Dan Hurley has taken everything he learned from his father to dominate in his own coaching career. After stints at Wagner and Rhode Island, Hurley took the helm at UConn in 2018. It is here that he has become a legend.

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In his fifth season with the Huskies and just the third season UConn was in the Big East, Hurley led his team to its first national championship since 2014 in 2023. The next season, he made history when he guided UConn to back-to-back titles, making the Huskies the first team to win two consecutive championships since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007.

Hurley's squad had an up-and-down 2024-25 season, but it does little to take away from the back-to-back titles. The successful head coach still has a long career ahead of him to further add to his legacy, but it's clear that being a coaching icon runs in the family.