Dan Hurley hired as Wagner basketball coach

Apr 5, 2010 - 9:23 PM By MELISSA MURPHY AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK(AP) -- Dan Hurley was hired as Wagner's basketball coach Monday, the same day his father joined the Hall of Fame.

Dan Hurley spent nine years at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J., where he built the program into one of the nation's best. He had a 223-21 record and four teams ranked in the top five in the country.

The 37-year-old Hurley replaces Mike Deane, who coached the Seahawks since 2003. Wagner finished 5-26 this season, including 3-15 in the Northeast Conference.

Hurley will be introduced Wednesday on the campus.

"Dan has been a winner at every level that he has played or coached, and is someone who has thrived at schools that have excellent academic reputations," Wagner athletic director Walt Hameline said in a statement.

Bob Hurley Sr., the great high school coach, will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this summer. Dan and his brother, Bobby, played for their father at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J. The senior Hurley finished with a 957-106 record and 24 state championships in 38 seasons.

"He's very excited and I'm very excited for him," Dan told The Associated Press. "Lots of lives he's touched and the amount of success he's had in terms of wins, championships and kids sent to college, he's about what a coach should be. He's excited for me to be moving on to the college level."

Dan Hurley already has college experience, having worked as an assistant coach at Rutgers from 1997 to 2001. The Seton Hall graduate also spent a season as an assistant for his father.

He is considering hiring Bobby Hurley as an assistant. Bobby was a star guard who helped lead Duke to NCAA championships in 1991 and 1992. He is now involved in thoroughbred racing in Hollywood, Fla.

"I'm not sure yet, I've been talking to a bunch of people," Dan Hurley said. "I'll try to put together a great staff that's going to be hardworking and do an excellent job on the court and caring about the kids."

Hurley's St. Benedict's team (20-1) was invited to the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational in Baltimore last weekend, but the headmaster decided the team wouldn't play on Good Friday.

"I'll try to run the college version of what we did at St. Benedict's," Hurley said. "Preparing kids academically, athletically and socially to be successful."