As UConn basketball head coach Dan Hurley and his sideline antics have been in the news lately, there was an interesting conversation between him and Geno Auriemma. With a recent incident involving Hurley and an official, the UConn women's basketball head coach in Auriemma spoke about his anger when coaching and his perspective on the topic.

Part of the program's video series titled “Legendary Basketball,” Auriemma and Hurley spoke about their coaching stints with the Huskies. One notable part was when Auriemma spoke about how when he gets “angrier,” it leads to a “negative impact” on his team.

“The way we act has a huge impact on our players. They're so impressionable because they look at you different than they may have looked at you five years ago,” Auriemma said to Hurley. “So now if you're like killing a kid, and you're telling them that they stink, they don't want to fight you a lot of times. They want to just crawl in a hole because a guy that they really admire and look up to just told them that they're horrible.

“I found out that when I'm on the sideline now, the angrier I get, the more animated I get, if I overdo it, it has a negative impact on my team,” Auriemma continued. “Took me a while to realize that.”

UConn basketball's Dan Hurley called out for “bad behavior”

Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley reacts to an official during the game against the Xavier Musketeers in the second half at the Cintas Center.
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There is no doubt that people will find the conversation interesting since Hurley's antics on the sidelines during games have been on full display. It would even promote media personalities like Jay Bilas calling out the UConn basketball head coach for “bad behavior,” but this video was posted sometime last week and possibly filmed even before.

“That's who he is. Be authentic and he's competitive, take Dan Hurley out. If you say that about any coach, I think it's just an excuse for bad behavior,” Bilas said. “Yes, it's just an excuse for bad behavior. And my thing is more about the competitive advantage that is perceived by what they call ‘working officials' or ‘trying to influence officials.' It's not just when they cross the line once and lose their minds and get a technical and all that stuff, the referees can handle that. It's the constant berating of officials throughout a game that fans think are influencing calls.”

However, it's still an interesting tidbit for the legendary women's basketball coach to share this wisdom with Hurley who has won back-to-back championships with the Huskies. He would also speak about how to compose one's self in practice and while some could say Auriemma is telling this to Hurley because of recent events, it is purely speculation rather than a bonafide fact.

“You've got to be a certain way in practice,” Auriemma said. “I think we should stop calling it practice, because other people that do what we do, they call it training. Because what we're doing is we're training our players' minds and their bodies to be a certain way when game times comes.”

The men's team is 14-6, 6-3 in conference, as they next face DePaul Wednesday.