History comes full circle as a Hurley stands in Duke's way

When you have become as central a figure as Bob Hurley has this weekend, you get your own press conference. So Hurley held court in the hallway outside the Rhode Island locker room, in a black URI hat, in front of a March Madness banner as a steady procession of reporters and television cameras rotated through to absorb his wisdom.

Hurley, one of the country’s most successful high school coaches at the now-defunct St. Anthony’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., has his fingerprints all over Saturday’s game between Rhode Island and Duke. His namesake son Bobby is one of the greatest players in Duke history (and now the coach at Arizona State), his son Dan is the coach at Rhode Island and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski gave Hurley’s introduction speech at the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Coaching, it turns out, was in his sons’ blood, even if their father tries to keep that part of things at arm’s length.

“I answer when asked,” Bob Hurley said. “I don’t butt in. I was a high-school coach. This is a different game.”

He never saw his sons following him into the business – Bobby took Arizona State to the NCAA tournament this season as well – and was merely happy when they earned basketball scholarships, which by covering their tuition allowed him to keep coaching a beloved but underfunded powerhouse on a part-time basis instead of leaving for a higher-paying full-time job.

Bobby took one visit, to Duke. He knew that was the place for him. Dan, a less heralded recruit, considered Rutgers and Davidson – the Bob McKillop connection to New York – but eventually decided to stay close to home at Seton Hall.

"I think there was some token recruitment," Dan Hurley said. "I don't even think I ever got a home visit, though. Let me change that: I eliminated them from my list early on."

The two collided in the 1992 NCAA tournament, when Duke and Bobby beat Seton Hall and Danny in the East Regional semifinal in Philadelphia on the way to the Final Four -- setting up a relatively forgotten game at the Spectrum against Kentucky that slipped quietly into history.

Bob Hurley and Krzyzewski became close during Bobby’s distinguished Duke career, coaches of the same age and generation. When Hurley went into the Hall in 2010, he picked Krzyzewski to introduce him not only as a colleague but because he knew Krzyzewski would be there anyway with the Dream Team.

“You always follow Bob Hurley because he could have coached at any level, and maybe changed a little bit of how he would run his practice if he was at the NBA level, but maybe not," Krzyzewski said. "But you always knew that a player coming from St. Anthony's would know how to play, know how to work, and know how to be a team member, solid, solid, all of the time. Bob was consistently excellent in doing that every year at St. Anthony's. And he built a program there."

Hurley was still talking when Duke entered the arena for Friday’s practice. Krzyzewski waved as he walked past along the narrow hallway. Hurley, telling a story, didn’t notice. He’s in his element here, a coach given the opportunity to talk some basketball, a father given the opportunity to root on his son.

Sports columnist Luke DeCock: 919-829-8947, ldecock@newsobserver.com, @LukeDeCock

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 3:35 PM with the headline "History comes full circle as a Hurley stands in Duke's way."