Dan Hurley has set a deadline of when he will make his decision on whether to take the Lakers coaching job.
The UConn men’s basketball coach told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that he will choose between a return to Storrs or a ticket to Hollywood on Monday.
Hurley told ESPN that he left his Friday meeting with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss “extremely impressed” and the vision they laid out made a “compelling case” to be the team’s next head coach.
The two-time national championship coach received a huge, long-term offer and spent Saturday mulling over his future, ESPN reported.
ESPN notes that Hurley has been “at the forefront” of the Lakers hiring process to bring in their successor to Darvin Ham, who was relieved of his duties in May after two seasons with the team.
Hurley has been their desired coach even as the Lakers have interviewed several other candidates throughout the process, according to ESPN. Only New Orleans Pelicans assistant and former Charlotte Hornets head coach James Borrego had two in-person interviews in Los Angeles.
It was previously reported that the Lakers’ offer would stand in the neighborhood of eight years for $100 million, which would make Hurley one of the highest paid head coaches in the NBA.
It would also be a large jump from the six-year, $32 million deal he is currently on at UConn.
He would be taking over a Lakers team led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis that finishing seventh in the Western Conference before losing a first-round series to the Nuggets.
Hurley, 51, has led the Huskies to back-to-back national championships and has previously expressed an interest in coaching in the NBA.
Prior to his six-year run in UConn, Hurley had successful stints coaching Rhode Island and Wagner at the college level, and St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey on the high school circuit.
