Dan Hurley on Michigan State basketball legend: 'I love Coach Izzo'
· Yahoo Sports
UConn coach Dan Hurley is one of the most accomplished active coaches in college basketball, but there's at least one coach the two-time national champion still looks up to.
In fact, he'll be coaching against him in the Sweet 16.
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When 2-seed UConn faces 3-seed Michigan State on Friday, March 27, at Capital One Arena in Washington, Hurley will be steps away from who he considers to be "one of the greatest coaches" in college basketball – Spartans coach Tom Izzo.
"He's one of the greatest to ever do it," Hurley told TNT following his team's 73-57 win over UCLA in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. "He's always been my most-respected coach that I've tried to model myself after at the college level. I love coach Izzo."
"He's always been my most respected coach...I love Coach Izzo."
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) March 23, 2026
Dan Hurley is looking forward to sharing the floor with Tom Izzo in the Sweet 16 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ibOc5iVLPP
Hurley got his first college coaching job in 2010 at Wagner and has been UConn's coach since 2018, winning back-to-back NCAA titles from 2023-24 and making the tournament in six consecutive seasons. However, that pales in comparison to Izzo's 28 consecutive tournament appearances (excluding the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season), the active NCAA record.
Izzo and Hurley have only played against each other once with their current teams, with Michigan State winning an early-season matchup 64-60 on Nov. 21, 2021, in The Bahamas. That was the first season Hurley brought the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament, and two years later he led UConn to a national championship as a 4-seed.
Hurley also told TNT that he plans on having a friendly chat with the Spartans legend ahead of their matchup.
"I'll even call him before the game just to break the ice," he said.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: UConn basketball coach Dan Hurley loves Tom Izzo: 'One of the greatest'