Duke basketball: Top five candidates to succeed Coach K
By Matt Johnson
3. Bobby Hurley
Duke guard: 1989-1993
Head coaching experience: Buffalo, 2013-15; Arizona State, 2015-present
Jalen Rose once called Bobby Hurley, “Bart Simpson.” Who can blame him? Hurley did look like a 12-year-old in a Duke basketball uniform, but I would ask Mr. Rose how many times he beat Bobby in college?
The answer is never, and it’s for one simple reason: Bobby Hurley was a killer. For you younger folks like me, do yourself a favor and go back to watch some of his career highlights. In the 1992 title game, Laettner was cold as ice, and guess who was Bobby Buckets when his team needed him?
Hurley doesn’t have the coaching experience that a lot of these other guys do. He’s gone 129-86 in his time at Buffalo and Arizona St., but his teams get better every year, and he clearly knows the game well.
Hurley’s advantage during the coaching search will be the emotional side. He is the first point guard to bring Coach K home a title (two, actually, in 1991 and 1992), and he also must remind the legend most of himself. A scrappy little guy who wasn’t afraid of anybody on the court and had to make his name grinding and working. Krzyzewski might just go paternal on this one and choose the guy who he probably feels the most fatherly towards.