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In their first season in the 16-team Big 12 conference — make that make sense — the Arizona State Sun Devils struggled to a 4-16 conference record and finished 15th, only edging out the Colorado Buffaloes who like the Sun Devils made the move from the Pac-12 Conference this past summer. It's not as if things were going much better out on the Pacific Coast. Arizona State was below .500 overall and in conference play last season as well, proving that we shouldn't have expected much to change when “Pac” became “Big.”
Speaking of change, considering the little success that the Arizona State basketball has had in recent years, it seemed like a possibility that the school would decide to part ways with longtime head coach Bobby Hurley at season's end, however, this appears to not be the case.
Bobby Hurley is expected to return to coach the Arizona State men’s basketball team next season, according to a source of Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro. Hurley has one year remaining on a two-year extension he signed in March 2023, and Arizona State is not expected to extend him heading into the 2025-26 season.
Bobby Hurley is the older brother of two-time defending National Championship head coach Dan Hurley and the son of high school coaching legend Bob Hurley Sr., but once upon a time, he was also one of the most accomplished college basketball players in NCAA history.
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Hurley left the Duke Blue Devils after four years as a two-time National Champion and the NCAA's all-time leader in assists. To this day, Hurley is one of just four players in men's Division I history with at least 1,000 career assists, along with Chris Corchiani, Ed Cota and Jason Brickman.
Following brief stints on the staffs of his brother at Wagner and Rhode Island, Bobby Hurley got his first head coaching opportunity in 2013 when he took over as the head coach of the Buffalo Bulls. In two seasons, he led Buffalo to a pair of regular season titles and one NCAA Tournament appearance. In 2015, Hurley departed for the west coast, accepting the job at Arizona State. In the ten seasons since then, Hurley has gone 168-149, but the Sun Devils have only had five winning seasons.
It should be noted that Arizona State isn't a school with a rich basketball history. In just ten years, Hurley has already become the second-winningest coach in program history. The school has never made a trip to the Final Four and they only six NCAA Tournament appearances this century, three of which have come during Hurley's 10-year tenure.
