After winning the Final Four against the Illinois Fighting Illini, UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley was booed strongly by the crowd in the arena. The boos came during his live postgame interview and happened right after an emotional 71-62 win.
Hurley first appeared confused about what the crowd was booing him for. He thought it was regarding his head-butting incident with referee Roger Ayers after Braylon Mullins’ game-winning three-point shot that eliminated Duke from the Elite Eight. There is also a chance that fans might be booing him for head-butting Mullins, after another great game in the NCAA Tournament. The Elite Eight hero had 15 points in 30 minutes in the Final Four win against Illinois.
“I don’t know what — are they booing the headbutt?” Hurley said. “I don’t know what they’re booing. But he’s amazing… There’s nothing like the bus ride on Monday night over to the stadium when you’re one of the last two teams standing.”
Regarding the negative things written about him over the last few days, Hurley embraced the villain role, saying:
“Do I deserve the boos? Probably, because I’m an a**hole.”
Irrespective of what the fans are thinking about him, Dan Hurley stands a chance to win his third national championship in the last four years. After missing out on the three-peat last year, Hurley has another chance to get back to the championship track by beating Michigan in the national championship game.
Dan Hurley Not Changing His Sideline Behavior
Dan Hurley’s character came into question after the Elite Eight win against Duke. While the controversial head-butting incident portrayed the UConn head coach in a negative light, don’t expect that kind of behavior from him on the sidelines to change anytime soon. Nor does Hurley want to play the victim role.
“I’m not a victim. I’ve done everything. I did what I did,” he said Friday. “We don’t allow victims in our program, and I’m not a 53-year-old man sitting up here like I’m some victim. I don’t want to waste a lot of time with it because it takes away from the team. But for me, the way I view what we’re going into, in the game, when some people, again, view it as a game, just my family, how I was raised in the sport, where I’m from in Jersey, we look at it more like a battle.”
Hurley also said that anyone who meets him in a regular setting will find him funny and charming. On social media, things can be exaggerated, so that’s not real for him.
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