Juan Santamaria’s World Historical past II instructor comes up typically, greater than any 38-year-old’s highschool instructor ought to. Santamaria just lately attended a soccer occasion in Kansas Metropolis and located himself in a crowd of basketball followers. He seen a person studying “The Miracle of St. Anthony,” a e book about legendary highschool basketball coach Bob Hurley Sr.
“You know, I know his son, Dan Hurley,” Santamaria mentioned.
“No way,” the person replied. “I love Dan.”
“I’m serious,” Santamaria mentioned. “He was my history teacher.”
His viewers wasn’t shopping for it.
“Yes,” Santamaria mentioned. “That’s how he started.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley has spoken typically about his days at St. Benedict’s Preparatory Faculty in Newark, N.J., and the way they formed the person he’s now: an elite faculty basketball coach, winner of the final two males’s nationwide titles, who this summer season turned down an opportunity to teach the Los Angeles Lakers.
Not as a lot is thought about Hurley’s days as a instructor, a job typically required of highschool coaches. He referenced them throughout a information convention in April on the Closing 4 in Arizona, discussing how he discovered to regulate a classroom, first at St. Anthony, the place he taught well being, bodily schooling, intercourse schooling and driver’s schooling, then at St. Benedict’s, the place he labored from 2001 to 2010.
How did this ultra-intense coach, one with a red-faced popularity for difficult gamers and officers, adapt to the classroom, educating the French Revolution and the collapse of the Roman Empire?
Knowledgeable just lately that The Athletic had spoken with a few dozen former St. Benedict’s college students, in addition to management and college, about his educating days, Hurley laughed. “Oh, God,” he mentioned, as if uncertain of what was to return. A liberal research main at Seton Corridor with a minor in legal justice, Hurley mentioned educating World Historical past II was most likely essentially the most nervous he’s been in his life. He additionally doesn’t assume he’s ever labored tougher.
GO DEEPER
What I’m listening to from NBA scouts on faculty basketball’s prime prospects
St. Benedict’s within the early 2000s had a various enrollment of about 500. It was an all-boys college, grades seven by means of 12. The college calendar included out-of-classroom periods designed to get college students concerned in group service or different actions akin to mountain climbing or martial arts. The gown code was button-down shirts with ties, though in later years this modified to hoodies.
Hurley, who had simply misplaced his job as an assistant coach at Rutgers, labored in admissions along with teaching and educating. He was 28 and married with a 2-year-old son. On most days, his work schedule unfolded like this:
8:30-11 a.m.: Instructing historical past. World Historical past II, which most college students took as sophomores, lined European historical past, beginning with the Center Ages. Main as much as his first week, Hurley studied past the textbook as a result of he was satisfied “some wise-ass kids were going to test me.” These near him, nonetheless, thought it was a superb match.
“I thought history was probably up his alley because it’s a lot of memorization,’’ said Hurley’s older brother, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley. “You don’t have to do labs or anything. If he was doing that, I’d be scared he might blow the school up or something.”
11 a.m.-2 p.m.: Visiting colleges. Driving a school-issued automobile, Hurley would go to grade colleges in Newark, Irvington and East Orange and discuss to college students about the advantages of St. Benedict’s. This showcased Hurley’s individuals expertise, missed all through his profession in basketball.
“He’s one of those guys, if people catch him getting on a player or getting on an official, it’s, ‘Oh, that’s what he’s like,’” mentioned P.J. Carlesimo, who coached Hurley at Seton Corridor. “But if you talk to the players in particular, or guys he taught, they’d say, ‘No, no, no.’ They’d do anything for him.”
3-6 p.m.: Teaching basketball. Hurley would end his apply plan and run apply. Some nights the Grey Bees may need a recreation. Others, he’d keep late and greet guests at a college honest. If nothing else, Hurley would return house and grade papers.
Father Edwin Leahy, the headmaster at St. Benedict’s, by no means doubted Hurley would put within the work, largely as a result of Hurley had watched his dad do it for years at St. Anthony, the place he had received 26 state championships.
“St. Anthony was just a tiny little box in the middle of Jersey City right before the Holland Tunnel and everybody did whatever they had to do to make the thing work,’’ Leahy said. “Danny grew up in that kind of an environment of watching these adults, whether they were the religious sisters or the lay people who would do whatever they had to do. So teaching history, I don’t think it was something that he was excited about at first, but he knew you did whatever you had to do.”
Former college students describe Hurley largely in 3 ways: He had a presence. He had a humorousness. And he had swag.
“Growing up as a kid in the inner city, in Newark or anywhere around there, you knew all the neighbors,” mentioned Joe Carratura, Class of 2004. “You could play outside all day long. Everybody sat on their stoop. Miss Susie down the street was your babysitter. It was just a community, and he felt like he belonged there.”
Marc Onion taught English. Shortly after Hurley’s rent, Onion went and watched a summer season basketball exercise. He seen the AC was shut off and Hurley had his guys taking part in not full courtroom however full health club, with the bleachers pulled again. No out of bounds. No fouls. Simply seize the ball and go. A check of wills.
Within the classroom, Onion seen a special surroundings however comparable management. Hurley walked across the room. He posted up within the nook. He by no means sat behind his desk. “He’d sit along the front edge and sort of be the big commander over the kids in the room,” Onion mentioned. “He had the wherewithal to know that, ‘All right, I’m going to be attentive to every guy in this space just by being in really close proximity.’”
“I think the worst thing sometimes to say about the teacher and the class is there’s no discipline,” Hurley mentioned. “Like, ‘The kids show no respect for the teacher.’ So for me it felt like if I ever went behind the desk, my presence wouldn’t be just as strong. And I’d be opening up the door for some level of anarchy.”
Most of Hurley’s courses had 20 or so college students. Some known as him “Coach.” Others known as him “Hurley.” He assigned them nicknames. If somebody wore a Dennis Rodman jersey, he turned “Rodman” for the remainder of the varsity 12 months. If somebody had slicked-back hair, he turned “Slick.” Santamaria, a 2004 grad, was shortened to “Santa-man.”
Hurley introduced check scores by soccer place and jersey quantity. Those that scored within the 80s have been large receivers. We bought a Jerry Rice. Those that failed, scoring within the 20s, for instance, would get a operating again. Oh, we bought an Emmitt Smith over right here.
Sure positions you’d wish to keep away from, Hurley mentioned.
“You would go in there and you’d know there was going to be a joke here and there,” Santamaria mentioned. “I enjoyed his class because I knew there was going to be banter. There was going to be some humor, some zings being thrown around, which always made it fun.”
Hurley wore khakis and a basketball pullover. (“I’ve never been a clothes person,” he mentioned.) He walked with swagger. College students known as it the “Hurley Shuffle” and tried to imitate it within the hallway. “People have always made fun of the way I walk,” Hurley mentioned. He had receding hair and a rising midsection. At lunch, Hurley would go together with school members to Department Brook Park the place he would seize just a few sizzling canines with sauerkraut, onions or chili. Plan B was pizza.
His educating fashion was direct. One scholar described it as, “Don’t bust my balls, I won’t bust yours.” One other joked that he felt like he needed to get his work performed as a result of he didn’t wish to should run line drills within the health club. Practically all agreed Hurley held them accountable.
“He cared about what he was doing and he cared about the kids that were with him,” mentioned Jim Duffy, who additionally taught historical past. “I mean, the nickname stuff sounds cutesy, but to a certain extent that becomes a way of classroom management. Which is a whole trick to teaching because if you can’t manage a classroom, they’re going to eat you alive, whether you’re the basketball coach or not.”
Hurley’s second consecutive nationwide title put him in rarefied air, however he nonetheless thinks of his highschool teaching days. (Jamie Squire/Getty Photos)
St. Benedict’s allowed college students to carry jobs across the college. This system was designed to show accountability, whereas placing cash in college students’ pockets. Marcos Novoa’s job was to scrub the health club, which included Hurley’s workplace.
Novoa didn’t have Hurley at school. He wasn’t a lot of a basketball fan. However almost daily, he entered Hurley’s workplace, which was the scale of a cubicle, and cleaned out his rubbish or straightened his desk. He was a jokester. Hurley was a jokester. They bought alongside effectively.
“We were all kids, but it almost felt like he could be one of us,” mentioned Novoa, now a police officer in New Jersey. “If I had an issue, and I didn’t want to bring it to anyone important so to speak, I would probably feel more comfortable going to him first. To me, he was somebody I could relate to a little bit more than others.”
Mike Malinowski credit Hurley for getting him began on his path to educating. At some point within the fall of 2003, he was consuming breakfast within the college cafeteria when Hurley and one other instructor known as him over. They requested Malinowski about his faculty plans. Malinowski listed 4 colleges he was contemplating. Hurley informed him he wanted to decide on Rutgers.
“He put me on that trajectory,’’ said Malinowski, now in his 15th year as a teacher. “I attended that university because of him. I went there, I met my wife. I got involved with a bunch of other great teachers and professors. I mean, indirectly, did it eventually lead me to become a teacher? … I can’t lie and say I became a teacher because of him, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say I’m a better teacher because of my experience with him.”
As a basketball coach, Hurley took St. Benedict’s to a nationwide degree. He went 223-21 over 9 years, agonizing over every loss as Hurleys do. If St. Benedict’s had a troublesome recreation arising, he would have a check or a Historical past Channel video prepared for the subsequent day’s class, one thing that might give him time to reset ought to the Grey Bees lose. Calling out was not one thing lecturers did at St. Benedict’s. Hurley doesn’t recall taking one sick day in 9 years.
(Talking of shedding, when Hurley known as final spring to debate the Lakers job, Leahy informed him he was out of his thoughts and wanted to consider his spouse, Andrea. “You’re going to lose more games with the Lakers than you’re going to lose at UConn, and you’re a mental case when you lose,” Leahy mentioned he informed Hurley. “You’re going to come home to Andrea and she’s going to hit you over the head with a pot. You can’t do that.”)
Many of the St. Benedict’s college students who spoke to The Athletic have adopted Hurley’s profession. From Wagner to Rhode Island, then to Connecticut, the place the 51-year-old is beginning his seventh season, they nonetheless see the identical man. Most mentioned that if they’d cross Hurley on the sidewalk, he could not know their names, however he would acknowledge their faces.
“I’m pretty sure if you put us in a room with Hurley, he’s gonna be the same exact person he was 20 years ago,” mentioned Rui Ribeiro, a 2005 grad. “He’s going to crack jokes and make fun of this and talk about that. That’s just the type of person he is, which is good. You shouldn’t change just because you’re succeeding in life.”
Hurley, who was just lately inducted into the St. Benedict’s Corridor of Fame, mentioned educating was rather a lot like teaching. Courses have been like practices. Exams and quizzes have been like video games. He wished to point out college students he was ready. He wished to make it enjoyable. He wished to point out he cared. Trying again, he considers it crucial time of his skilled life, which is why he as soon as talked with Leahy about returning at some point to show historical past and coach ball, a profession come full circle.
With UConn about to chase a 3rd consecutive nationwide title, Hurley is aware of this appears far-fetched.
“I’ve always in my mind … who knows at the end whether you’ve had enough of the high end of sports and you just wanted to get back to pure coaching or an experience like that,” he mentioned, earlier than pausing. “In the end, maybe. Who knows.”
(Prime picture: Michael Reaves / Getty Photos)
