UConn HC Opens Up About Mental Health Struggles
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It is hard enough speaking out about struggling mentally, but it is even tougher to go on a TV talk show, especially one as big as Dan Patrick, and talk about it on there. But that is what UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley did.
He went on the show recently to discuss his new memoir "Never Stop" that talks about Hurley's early playing career and his family that he grew up with and the struggles that he faced going through life. Hurley has been coaching the Huskies since 2018 and led them to back-to-back National Championships in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
But having all this success coaching and doing something that he loves to do, does not mean that someone of his caliber does not get in his own head. In one of the main segments of the Dan Patrick show, Patrick asked Hurley how dark the days got whether it was his playing career or his coaching what have you. And Hurley responded from the heart and gave a powerful answer.
"Dark to the point where you give serious consideration to doing something to harm yourself," Hurley said.
That is quite the answer because talking about mental health in general seems to be a struggle for anybody. Let alone a coach of one of the best college basketball teams in the country and winning back-to-back titles and then suffering a very close crushing loss to the number one seeded Florida Gators a year after you went back-to-back. Everybody struggles, it is a common thing that most people deal with on a daily basis.
Hurley is no different than the rest of us human beings. He is someone that has struggled in his life especially since his dad was a famous basketball coach and Hurley played as a kid as well. Hurley played five years of college basketball, one being with conference rival the Seton Hall Pirates, before transitioning to coaching.
For somebody like Hurley, it is definitely hard to grow up in a family where almost all of said members played sports. And then to go from playing to coaching and winning titles, that all helped take a toll on Hurley. Kudos to him for going on the Dan Patrick Show and opening up about his struggles publicly, it takes a lot of courage to go on a public talk show and do that.
Tyler is a 25 year old Journalism graduate from Georgia Southern University. Tyler is a big fan of hockey, baseball, basketball, and football, and also is a staff writer for Fansided.