Bobby Hurley’s time at Arizona State is over.
The Sun Devils are anticipated to half methods Hurley on the finish of the season, in accordance to The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman. Arizona State went 16-15 within the common season, and picked up an 83-79 win over Baylor within the first spherical of the Big 12 event on Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri.
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As the Sun Devils are properly out of competition to make it to the NCAA event, Hurley’s tenure at Arizona State will finish as soon as it has been knocked out of the Big 12 event.
“Well, I mean, I talked to the team, and we saw the report on it. I didn’t hide anything from them,” Hurley stated on Tuesday, via The Associated Press. “They’re playing for each other. I’m coaching them to the best of my ability. I have not been told anything.
“The supply is respected, and a man that I do know, however I’m simply doing my job and training this group and having fun with my moments.”
Hurley has spent the last 11 seasons with the Sun Devils, which marks his second head coaching job in college basketball after a two-year run at Buffalo. He reached the NCAA tournament three times in Tempe, though he’s never led them out of the first round or won a tourney game. The Sun Devils haven’t won an NCAA tournament game since 2014, back when Herb Sendek was running the program.
There have been a few instances in which Hurley has looked like he built a legitimate contender at Arizona State — the Sun Devils reached as high as No. 3 in the national rankings during the 2017-18 campaign, and they would have made the NCAA tournament in 2020 had it not been canceled due to COVID-19 — but the team has always stumbled in the end. The Sun Devils entered this season coming off back-to-back losing seasons and only finished above .500 thanks to a late upset win over then-No. 14 Kansas last week.
The move had long been expected after the Sun Devils’ slow start to Big 12 play, especially considering Hurley’s contract is up after the season. They finished 11th in the Big 12 and had a rough stretch in which they lost nine of 11 games to fall out of contention before the start of February.
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They did have a few notable wins, however, including over then-No. 13 Texas Tech and over the Jayhawks. But they struggled to put up much of a fight against Iowa State in what ended up being a 21-point blowout in their season finale on Saturday in Ames. While the Sun Devils have been playing better lately, and they shouldn’t be counted out completely this weekend at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, a fresh start is something that would likely do the program some good.
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While this was simply Hurley’s second job, he’ll undoubtedly be checked out as a high candidate this teaching cycle. His youthful brother is longtime UConn coach Dan Hurley, and it could make sense if Hurley ended up someplace nearer to the Northeast in some capability.
Arizona State would be the second open job within the Big 12 as soon as the Hurley split turns into official. Kansas State fired head coach Jerome Tang in what was a messy exit last month.
