6 Epic Quotes From UConn Head Coach Dan Hurley's New Interview With 247Sports

Hurley was his usual authentic self during an insightful interview with Adam Finkelstein

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UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley is attracting plenty of headlines lately.

He’s also attracting plenty of haters, most of whom are merely seeking to boost their own visibility.

It’s always interesting to hear Hurley dissect all of the noise that surrounds him and his program. A new, in-depth Hurley interview with 247Sports’ Adam Finkelstein took place on Wednesday, and now that it’s gone live, we’ve extracted six of the best Hurley quotes/passages from the excellent interview.

Hurley on social media noise:

“There's a lot of people that cover our sport that are looking for engagements … by riling up fan bases or criticizing a coach.”

On if he feels embarrassed about saying he’s the best coach in college basketball:

“The embarrassment part of getting caught on camera talking about my resume as a coach … the only embarrassment I'll feel about that … (is with) my fellow coaches … When I coach against Sean Miller …  when I see coach (Tom) Izzo … coaches that are just as good or better than me as a coach.”

On the origins of his intense coaching style:

“I grew up on Big East basketball … I grew up on NBA basketball in the 80s and 90s when this is how coaches coached and players played. There was a life or death urgency to how they coached and how they played.”

On being embraced by the UConn community and producing NBA players:

“My players love playing for me … my UConn fans love the way I coach … and then my resume and my results speak for themselves relative to championships … and (putting) my players in the … highest level of professional basketball in terms of people being developed.”

More on social media vitriol:

“The super soft media people that want to cancel me for being an intense coach … I don't think we need to make sports softer. So yeah, go for it. And then the fans of teams and programs that wish they were us that get joy out of these moments with me on the sideline … enjoy that, but you know you don't have what we got … which is the banners … But if this is your moment right here to mock me on social media for being an intense coach, go for it.”

On remaining authentic and the importance of maintaining an inner edge:

“I'm just comfortable in my own skin … I'm just authentically myself all the time. If you lie a lot or if you misrepresent yourself to the media -- which I think a lot of people do that have public positions -- they have to kind of remember to be in character … whereas I'm just an authentic person. I'm obviously flawed. I obviously make mistakes and sometimes go too far with how badly I want it, but I'll never be accused of … not putting every single thing I have into trying to make this program the best … I pour every single part of myself into the job, and my fans know that. There's also a dark side to that, which is sometimes you're going to have moments like last night (versus Butler) that maybe come across to timid people too strong for them to be able to handle. But you can't be a soft person coaching at a place like UConn, not when you're patrolling the sidelines where Geno Auriemma, coach Jim Calhoun --  two of the greatest to ever do it in basketball – (have coached) … If you're gonna coach on the same sidelines where coaching giants have been, you better have an edge to you.”

More NCAA: Ranking The 10 Most Talented Players Dan Hurley Has Coached At UConn