PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs said Tuesday what the whole basketball world already knew: that he had spoken to both Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley and Montverde (FL) Academy coach Kevin Boyle, among others, before hiring Steve Pikiell as the school’s new basketball coach.
Hurley, 43, was the school’s No. 1 target but ultimately turned an offer worth $2 million annually, while Pikiell is making an average of $1.6 million over five years.
“I have tremendous respect for Coach Hurley,” Hobbs said, “respect for what he’s done. We did talk early in the process. He’s a tremendous coach. Obviously, basketball royalty here in New Jersey. And he made a difficult decision early in the process to remove himself and I respect that. He did it because of his players [at Rhode Island] and you have to respect that, so you wish him all the best and I’ll be cheering him on in the A-10 as a Jersey guy in the years ahead.”
Hurley would have been facing his third major rebuild in seven years at Rutgers following successful turnarounds at Wagner and Rhode Island. Though Hurley was able to turn those programs around in relatively short order — he has a 100-86 career mark in six seasons at Wagner and Rhode Island — he remained conflicted about whether he wants to do it for a third time — even in his own home state.
Hurley remains very close with Rhode Island junior guard E.C. Matthews, who suffered a knee injury on the first night of the season and missed the remainder of the year. Matthews is an NBA Draft prospect who remains the centerpiece of a young and talented Rhode Island team that also includes Hassan Martin, Stan Robinson, Jared Terrell, Kuran Iverson and Jarvis Garrett. The Rams also add several key recruits and should have Top 25 potential next season.
“If everyone’s back and healthy, we have the best roster in the league,” Hurley said last Monday on his radio show.
A year from now Hurley could be in position for a much higher-profile job than Rutgers.
“I don’t know why he’d risk taking Rutgers when he can get something much better if he waits,” one source said.
Boyle was never offered the Rutgers job, although sources said he was very interested. Hobbs spoke several times with the former St. Patrick’s coach who guided Ben Simmons, D’Angelo Russell, Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at St. Pat’s and Montverde.
“I think it’s hard to do that [make that jump from high school],” Hobbs said. “Kevin Boyle’s name was obviously out there. I have tremendous respect for Kevin Boyle and the job he did both here in New Jersey and now at Montverde. I just think it’s a big step. That doesn’t mean a high school coach can’t succeed, they certainly can. We’ve got lots of examples of that, but I thought for this job right now at this moment of challenge we needed somebody who had built a college program and who had experience recruiting in New Jersey recruiting players to a college program.”
Asked if he paid attention to the other names involved, PIkiell said, “No, not really. I think I was my wife’s second choice, too, so she loves me a lot so it didn’t matter.”
NRutgers AD Pat Hobbs said Tuesday what the whole basketball world already knew: that he had spoken to both Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley and Montverde (FL) Academy coach Kevin Boyle, among others, before hiring Steve Pikiell as the school’s new basketball coach.
