David Novak 0:04 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen. And while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is DAN HURLEY, the head men's basketball coach at the University of Connecticut. If you watched last year's March Madness tournament, then you know, he's the guy that led the Huskies to win the NCAA title. And boy, it was a heck of a lot of fun to watch him and his team absolutely dominate that tournament. Now think about it. Here's this incredible coach who reached what's got to be the pinnacle of success for collegiate coaching. But you know what, when you listen to him, you would never know it. And you're about to hear. There's a relentless drive and work ethic to the way that Dan leads. And it's a powerful reminder that no matter what level of success you're at, now, you've always got to find a way to keep pushing yourself to the next level. And Dan's going to show you how it's done. So here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, DAN HURLEY.

You're coming off of a 34 point win last night, which is nice. You know, what do you say to your team after that? And you know, how do you keep them on edge a little bit last

Dan Hurley 1:40 

night was was probably one of the harshest critiques, or one of the most disappointing locker room post mortems that I could recall, we played so far below our championship standards, in terms of doing the hard things well, on the court was a window dressing score, but we were we didn't function very well as a team. So bad locker room.

David Novak 2:07 

You led UConn obviously last year to the national championship? And can you tell us a behind the scenes story from winning the title that the most people haven't heard of?

Dan Hurley 2:21 

Well, most people know I was wearing the dragon underwear the whole tournament all the way to the championship. I would say being at the White House, and maybe when the team leaves, you're with the President, you take a picture with the president, President Biden, which was you know, super cool. And then then the team goes into another room, I guess the whatever the media room wherever they do their their press conferences, and I had about five minutes by myself with Joe Biden, because me and him just kind of walked into that room. And then the ceremony started. So I had Five minutes with Joe Biden by myself, and I just, I didn't know what the hell to talk about. Basketball Coach, I just remember it being an awkward long, five minutes. I don't think he knew like that much about basketball. And I know nothing about politics.

David Novak 3:19 

Well, you know, you win the championship, how long does a highlight that last? I mean, that feeling of being the top of the college basketball world before you have to say, All right, everybody, it's time to time to get back to work. Just

Dan Hurley 3:31 

for me, it was it was a week from Monday night winning the championship to you know what, I got up that next Monday morning and had a team meeting and started setting the tone for the offseason program, summer program, our goals for next season. So probably a week. But then it's also something that I think in times where we're not practicing, we're not recruiting, we're not, you know, doing coaching, development or raising money for NIHL. Or working on scheduling, whenever we're not working. I didn't take the time to, you know, maybe you'll play a song or that reminded me of be the neuesten and winning it, like, look it up with the championship banner and a practice facility given myself kind of moments of appreciation in between working hard.

David Novak 4:23 

Four years ago, and in my research, I saw that you had this viral moment telling the media, people better be getting this now because it's coming. You know, what's that statement say about your leadership style?

Dan Hurley 4:35 

Well, number one, especially nowadays with social media, when you're losing it's bad. You know, and I was in year two, and there wasn't a huge difference in terms of the bottom line results, but there was a major improvement in terms of the quality of the organization, the talent on the court with the players, the coaching staff and improved our culture, terms of how much we cared was so much better our preparation and maturity, just everything about us, you know, had changed except the results, but they were getting a lot narrower and our talent level was increasing. So, you know, we took a tough loss on the road. And I knew that we were getting closer and I knew I had, you know, I had two people on board and it was just a matter of time, in terms of just maturing as an organization, and learning how to win. So I threw that one out there, mostly to galvanize the fan base. Yeah, cuz you win the national championship, you know, the most in the last 25 years of any program in the country. The fans start getting restless. So I threw that out there. But I also believe that

David Novak 5:47 

Deion Sanders coach prime, he said the same thing after Oregon just kicked their butt. He said, You better get us now. What do you think of his his coaching style and what you've observed with what he's done in Colorado? Yeah, you see,

Dan Hurley 6:04 

somebody there who brings you a couple things, I think is incredible amount of confidence and swagger, which this is all about performance under pressure. So a coach that could provide his his group with confidence and swagger going into the most pressure packed moments of their life, obviously, incredible value. From that standpoint, and I love his honesty. I think the best thing that you could do for someone that you're coaching or someone that you're developing is, be honest with them about, you know, what they're good at, and where they need to get better, where they're hurting themselves and holding themselves back. So that's what I love about prime.

David Novak 6:45 

Well, unlike Colorado, which is really struggled in football, you're at UConn, and as you mentioned, you are an elite, if not the most elite college basketball program in the country. There's got to be a gigantic spotlight on you right now. I know there is I mean, how do you how do you handle that kind of pressure? Yeah,

Dan Hurley 7:05 

play and play it or coaching basketball at UConn. It's the basketball capital of the world. You know, the women's program with 11 national championships and Geno Auriemma you know, one of the legendary coaches and I've replaced you know, one coach down the line, but to replace Jim Calhoun, another Mount Rushmore of greatest college coaches of all time, when this job became available to me, I'm a very driven person. I was coaching at the University of Rhode Island, I wanted to get myself to a program where I had all of the resources available to me to develop and compete at an elite level and prove myself to be an elite coach, you caught us in Storrs, Connecticut, there's not a whole lot here besides a world class university, an incredible love for basketball, and an ability to really focus cause stores is not South Beach. So it's the perfect place to develop young people help them develop and acquire new skills quickly put together, a culture that's based around constant improvement, and build an incredible bond amongst the team, we, this is a tough job, though, you got to be a certain type of coach to coach here. Because you're you're gonna be held against the absolute highest standards. It's like championships or bust, not everyone's meant to coach or work in an environment like that. And I think they earmarked me as being, you know, a tough kid from Jersey, that comes from a very competitive family, that he would have the type of thick skin to not only survive here, but thrive.

David Novak 8:45 

I couldn't help but looking at what you have on your office walls, and you've got that famous Teddy Roosevelt, quote, The Man in the Arena. Is that your favorite vote from any leader? Yeah, I

Dan Hurley 8:57 

think so. are certainly pre championship no doubt. Now, I think, you know, it's funny, it's like, the critics, I think, you know, prior to really breaking through in March and April, that was something I had to look at a lot, because, you know, the external noise was something that that affected me. And with the big breakthrough moment in April, I could give a shit what, what the outside world thinks of decisions I'm making right now as a leader of the program, because of my heart of hearts. You know, as a 50 year old head coach, we achieve the pinnacle of the sport. So, you know, now, I know my way works. We feel like we got the formula and the blueprint, and we have insane work ethic and drive. So I feel like that Teddy Roosevelt helped me for a long time and now maybe it helps me less because I don't even think about the critics. That's

David Novak 9:58 

great. What's insane mean work ethic Do you?

Dan Hurley 10:02 

It's 1111 and a half months a year. Y'all grind here, whether that's recruiting, you know, getting ahead and recruiting on younger High School prospects or recruiting your current class where you're trying to bring in, you know, the best recruiting class in the country. It's, it's obviously your season, your games and your performance on game night. It's the level that you practice that the expertise in the way that you run a practice not only the drills and instructions, but the energy, the intensity, the pace of it. I just think it's a coaching staff that while our team is in a weight room working to get stronger, we're trying to become better leaders. We're trying to master the art of coaching, which includes so many different things, motivation and psychology tactics, personal development, player development, the way that you market or brand your program, the way that you recruit, you know, my wife on days where I look tired when I come home, you know, my wife would kind of make fun of me, hey, you just the gym teacher? Why do you look so be? Why do you look so tired? And most people don't understand the intricacies and all the different parts and aspects of coaching mastery. How

David Novak 11:20 

have you gotten better at building branding like the Yukon brand you talked about? That'd be an important aspect.

Dan Hurley 11:26 

Yeah, I think we went out and hired a team to run our social media, cause it was not up to par. It was it was well below national championship standards. So we went out and, and hired a team and allowed them to cut a get embedded deeper in the program. And we had in November, the number one most interacted with social media at all college basketball.

David Novak 11:54 

Fantastic. And I want to talk to you more about how you're leaving UConn. But first, I want to take you back. What's a story from your childhood that that shaped the kind of leader you are today?

Dan Hurley 12:05 

Childhood, it's gonna be something involving definitely my dad, who's 80% of what I do as a coach is what I learned from a Hall of Fame high school coach of have a dad, I would say the story for me as we're playing Little League. Maybe I'm in fourth grade, fifth grade. My dad's waiting for me, we're gonna go meet my grandmother, in Long Beach Island at the Jersey Shore. And my brothers are already down there. My mom's already down there. We've got some family down there. My dad had me stay and play the Little League game on Friday before we we went for the weekend. And I think I'm the tying run them at second base and last inning and I get picked off second base for the last out of the game. And I think like a couple of girls from my grammar school, were like riding by on their bikes in the street. And I think I might have been looking at them and got picked off second base and you'll get that car ride to the shore. But back then, there was no podcasts or XM radio. So like, there were no cell phones to distract you. So that was like, like three hours of incredible uncomfortableness on the Jersey Turnpike. And like never letting down your guard in preparation, you know, in competition, just always being ready. It's sports.

David Novak 13:35 

Your dad is you know, he is all famer and amazing record 26 state championships, I think, in high school, what would be the single most important thing he taught you about leadership?

Dan Hurley 13:48 

He had all these kind of like, wooden isms, right? And he'd used them in practice. And then he would always, you know, make the larger life lesson for the boys right? So it was like, use the backboard or dunk the ball, no stylistic finger all in front of the rim. Like use the glass or dunk the ball. So like be about substance over style. Two hands on everything. So pass the ball, catch the ball, rebound the ball, right, like, don't take anything for granted in life. You know, be quick, don't hurry. All these wooden isms. I think he would always take back to larger life aspects.

David Novak 14:31 

I understand you are quite the basketball player yourself that you went to Seton Hall you played for PJ Carlesimo? How did that experience shaped the person in the coach that you've become? Yeah,

Dan Hurley 14:41 

I think for me, Dave, I blew it at the college level as a player. It haunts me from time to time as a high school player. I was a I was a top flight prospect and I was a really talented player that didn't apply himself in every way at the college level. and did not play up to my abilities. I let my college teammates down, I let my organization down, I let the coaching staff that invested in me down as a player. I think about that a lot, because I'm involved in basketball. Yeah, so, yeah, I'm not a lawyer, like that part of my life is closed. So I think now though, day by over pour it to my coaching, it's like, I know, I could have did more. And now I'm gonna make up for it in my career as a coach in terms of just pouring everything that I have into that. And, you know, I give all of my energy into this, my leadership, my coaching, UConn basketball, and it's my family. And then I don't have a whole lot of time for much else. Dan,

David Novak 15:48 

when did you have that light bulb moment where you said, you know, I want to be a coach,

Dan Hurley 15:52 

who I would probably say Allen Iverson, he scored 39 on me. Maybe my senior year, I think I got off to a good start maybe averaging like 15, maybe 16 points a game, which, in the Big East back then that was right in line with somebody that was a potential NBA player. And I remember playing that game in Washington, DC. He dropped 39 on me, and it was not much I could do. But then I also knew I would be a coach. When I got to college, and I was finishing my college coaches, their sentences in practice when they were instructing us, you know, I was that Well, would you get coached the level that my dad did with me and my brother, not only as children, but eventually as players? For him? It's the family business. You

David Novak 16:41 

know, if you were going to break down your coaching philosophy into its simplest form, what would it be?

Dan Hurley 16:47 

Really, it's all about development, personal development, you know, skill development, better people, smarter people are gonna make better decisions. Basketball, it's like all about making quick decisions. And, you know, do I shoot, do I pass? Do I cut the? Or do I switch on the like, it's all these quick decisions that require high levels of skill. So, you know, skill and developing sharper, clearer thinkers?

David Novak 17:17 

What's a one on one coaching session with you? Like, you know, when when you take one player aside, and you work with them for a specific amount of time? What's it like? What do you try to do?

Dan Hurley 17:27 

How we try to work individually, you know, I'll try to meet with, you know, with each kind of member to Team I'd say, maybe once a week, once every 10 days with that individual, the personal touch the relationship building, asking about the family, you know, asking about, you know, how he's doing, you know, as a human being on a college campus, and then touching on, you know, how the basketball piece is going and what more the organization needs from them. And, and then I think from a team standpoint, the secret sauce for us is how hard we practice and how intense the environment is. We try to make our, our practice sessions, chaotic, there's no fouls called there's no water breaks. It is the most intense and the fastest paced thing and the most stressful experience that our players will go through. So I think when they show up on game night, the secret sauce is Game Night feels a little bit slower, and a little bit more comfortable. Which I think is what I learned from my dad,

David Novak 18:28 

as a leader. You know, culture is so important in any organization, have you articulated the cultural behaviors that you want for the UConn team? So that everybody knows them? And what are the major drivers of your culture? And how do you as a leader reinforce it?

Dan Hurley 18:46 

Yeah, so work ethic, I think we have this, you know, this, this blue collar mentality in the program, we, I recruit coaches to work for me, that have incredible passion for the game, they have to love being a part of, of this tribe and, and want to invest absolutely everything they have, into their obsession or, which is basketball for all of us our passion. So like, they have to love it as much as I love it. Or else I cannot bring them in here. Because when the person that cares too much meets the person that doesn't care enough, you know, things can tend to get very, very bumpy. You know, so we're based on just like, the work ethic has got to be there. It's got to meet mine. I mean, I don't have a lot of hobbies. You know, I don't have a lot of balance. It's like, you know, I love basketball. I love my in a good way. I love the cult that I'm a part of, and I love my family in terms of behaviors and mindsets. Like there's no blaming here. There's no complaining. There's no suggesting our mindset, you know, in a way we want to be able to, you know, have the best athletes in college basketball. If you're that can execute like at the precision of, of a Navy SEAL team.

Koula Callahan 20:09 

Have you ever wondered what David is thinking as he interviews our guests each week? Or have you been interested and hearing David's take on some of the questions that he asks his guest? Well, I do and I know a lot of you do, too. My name is cooler Callahan and together with David, I host the three more questions podcasts that airs every Monday. These episodes are just about 15 minutes. And in them, I asked David three questions that dive deeper into the themes of his episode with his guests. David shares incredible insights and stories from his career leading yum brands. And all of His answers are super practical and inspiring, like this great insight David shared and one of our most recent, three more questions episodes. But

David Novak 20:52 

I think what a leader has to recognize is if they have that decision, it's their job to make it, they've got to make those tough calls, because their people are looking for them to do it. When leaders don't make the tough decisions, they don't make the tough calls, things get stalled, things slowed down. And the urgency that you want to have in your organization dissipates. And so you cannot be a leader that shoves the tough things aside, you have to take those tough decisions on make a decision after you've done the proper analysis, done your homework, and then move on and execute that decision to the best of your ability until you learn something that says maybe it needs to change course. Get

Koula Callahan 21:40 

the three more questions podcasts in your feed each Monday and dive even deeper into the episodes you know and love. Just subscribe to how leaders lead wherever you get your podcasts

David Novak 21:58 

one of the things you said was those suggesting what goes into that thinking?

Dan Hurley 22:03 

I mean, most of these guys are aren't that good yet. If I was an NBA coach, and I was coaching, maybe, you know, a veteran that had won a lot, and had accomplished everything and, and played the right way and was all about winning, not a stats guy, but an actual winning player. Yeah, I would definitely be interested in Hey, what did you see, but most of the players I'm coaching, you know, they're just not at at that point. And maybe the first time that they've ever been told no, or you're wrong, or the first time that they've really been coached hard, is when they get to me, because most of our high school coaches, most of their AAU coaches, are afraid that they're going to transfer out of their schools, so they're afraid to coach them, or their parents are just acting like fans instead of parents. You know, so for me, a big part of my job is to push them to points that they can't get themselves. And a lot of that type of work is, you know, I've got to challenge them. And I've got to push them, but they know I love them, I invest the time in them. So they let me do my job.

David Novak 23:15 

How hard is it for you? Or is it hard for you at all to really have an emotional distance from your players to be the you know, the be the tough guy when you have to be for

Dan Hurley 23:26 

me, I understand. You know, the two different roles, I've got to play for them, you know, in the preparation and then the practices, I've got to push for game like reps so that on game night, they can execute. on game night, I go to boxing trainer in the corner with the fighter, pumping them up, building up their confidence. So you've got this practice persona, where you push for the preparation, and then the game night you become that person that's trying to convince them throughout the game that they can do anything. Any anger you see on game night for me is always at the referees.

David Novak 24:05 

You know, let's say you're a player on your team, and you go you're a good shooter, but you go into a slump. And I'm sure that's happened to you have many times with some great shooters you have. How do you build confidence in people when there's a right for maybe them to start doubting themselves,

Dan Hurley 24:20 

you keep right in place for you keep putting together highlight edits of their career, hitting their biggest shots to their favorite songs. And you make sure you're getting it to them, but they before Game Two days before a game, that constant communication and looking them in the eyes and yelling and tell them that they're the best shooter in the country.

David Novak 24:42 

You know, your team in 2023 was considered one of the most dominant teams in the history of March Madness. And it takes some serious effort to assemble a team like that, you know, how do you lead on the recruiting front? I mean, because you got to be a hell of a recruiter to get the talent that you get to go go to UConn is a great school but you said it's not Miami Beach?

Dan Hurley 25:04 

Well, I think number one, it starts with a locker room or an office space, that's gonna vibe. That's just it's got a good mixture of personalities. We had some introverts, we had some, some extroverts, you know, we had some some fire, we had some ice. But we all had really good people with good pedigree. And we were very, very honest in the recruiting process about the roles that we needed filled. So there was no one in the locker room that was coerced or convinced to come here with a false idea of what was going to be asked to them in the program and what their role would be. So I learned a lot through through failure, about roster architecture, both personalities, skill sets, and role identification.

David Novak 25:54 

Can you tell us the story from one of those learnings?

Dan Hurley 25:56 

I would say we had a we had a player, a young man from California, not many Californians come to Storrs, Connecticut, to play for the Huskies. But we had a kid named Joey Calcaterra, who's from San Diego, who could have gone to other schools, kind of somewhere near our level of college basketball, that we're offering him a chance to start and play way more minutes. And he got his visit with us at UConn and I said Joey, listen, you may not get on the court. You may be able to fight and get yourself 10 or 12 minutes a game at UConn to ease your road as these places that are offering you a starting spot. But if you come here and earn yourself 10 minutes a game you may be the difference between not playing in the NCAA Tournament winning the national championship. Joey did the hard thing he came to UConn. He was an absolute flame thrower off the bench for us. And I nicknamed him Joey California, and he sold a bunch of NIHL merch. So it worked out great for everybody.

David Novak 27:05 

Speaking of Anna, Anya, what kind of impact is as nisl and the transfer portal had on your program specifically?

Dan Hurley 27:12 

Yeah, I think our approach has been to be proactive with talking about and talking to players in your program. When you feel the discontent building, I think in the past during the season, we've kind of avoided speaking openly to our players about decisions like those, whereas I think in 2023, we're talking to our team about staying the course. Don't talk to people close to you about about transferring, we're in the past, we would almost just kind of wait till the season's over. I was like the elephant in the room. And I yell it listen, I say to my players. I expect more from you guys than any college basketball players ever given. Because you guys are getting things that college basketball players, some of the greatest who have ever played the sport that have paved the road for you. We're barely got meal money. You

David Novak 28:10 

know, I had a great opportunity to go to Encinitas, California. I spent like a morning with John Wood. I remember him telling me that the first time he got an extra tall player, which is how he described his seven footer. He said he'd never coached him before. So he went and met with all these coaches and players who were seven foot tall or coach people. How do you sharpen your axe? I mean, how do you go about getting better and better each year? As a coach?

Dan Hurley 28:37 

You know, for me, it's it's just it's film study. It's been real structured. I think with your your schedule. I think in the morning for me, it's like, from six to eight o'clock, I think it's like it's exercise. It's, it's spiritual, it's mindfulness. It's getting myself kind of primed for the day. And you know, I get into the office, I spend my first couple hours just, you know, studying offense, studying defense, watching the NBA watching European professional basketball, watching Division Three, women's team in Wisconsin, looking for a zone play versus an out under defense, I think it's, it's just putting in the time trying to study and learn.

David Novak 29:18 

You talked about your assistant coaches, and I know one of your goals is to is to help them all become head coaches. How do you get them ready for that?

Dan Hurley 29:27 

I think by modeling, I think I do a great job of modeling the habits, the behaviors, the energy level, the work ethic, I guess, how how seriously, I take to try and to to get as close to mastery of the different aspects of coaching and how that's an everyday journey and something that you'll never master. And then I think you're pushing them, you know, I think not allowing them to settle. You're getting them to promote themselves. as well, which is something that a lot of them are comfortable with.

David Novak 30:08 

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with DAN HURLEY in just a moment. You know, when you reach a milestone of success, like winning a national championship, it can be easy to rest on your laurels. But the ability to fight complacency is a quality I see a lot in great leaders, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, in our episode of how leaders lead, Roger talks about the importance of calling out that kind of complacency when you see it.

Roger Goodell 30:36 

One of the big challenges I had when I became commissioner is the league was so successful, that when you start talking about what we should do this, and we should do that we should focus on this. A lot of people reacted as saying, why we're already successful. And my answer to that is because we can get better. And it's sometimes harder to drive change. And a successful organization for that reason that people are somewhat resistant to change. And why take the risk, we're already at a great level. My view is the NFL has got so much more potential. And we can grasp that and we can achieve that. If we continue to be smart about the decisions we make we continue to act like we're number two and continue to find new ways of doing things.

David Novak 31:21 

Go back and listen to my entire conversation with Roger Goodell, Episode 99 here on how leaders lead.

You push your your guys hard, your assistants hard your team members hard. I've also heard you talk a little bit about your approach when the lights are on. I mean, what's different on game day for you?

Dan Hurley 31:48 

You're a good part of the season, David fluctuates between some level of suffering and, and different levels of relief. Yeah, with some joy mixed in there after a huge road win or what have you. So generally, that fluctuates between suffering and relief until you get to march. And then I think when March hits, you know, and it's conference tournament, it's NCAA Tournament. Now you almost start really going for it.

David Novak 32:21 

You know, you've mentioned this word that I find very interesting a few times in this podcast mastery. Tell me about your pursuit of mastery and why you talk about that so much. I

Dan Hurley 32:32 

just think when when you're a coach, that is no longer at that point that you should get out. Then you're no longer giving your players and the people that work for you everything that they deserve. So if like if every single day on this job, if you're not pushing yourself to learn better ways of recruiting presentations, or branding your program or your recruiting pitch, or your your tactics versus man defense or a new drill that you could develop, so that you could develop better passers and the psychology of of leadership and like once those things don't, don't excite you and have you almost feeling insecure or not measuring up like once you're not fearful that you're not good enough as a coach anymore. I think it's time to get out.

David Novak 33:29 

I'll tell you Danis, but it's so much fun. I want to have a little bit more with you here before I let you go I have a lightning round of questions. Are you ready for this? What's one word others would use to best describe you?

Dan Hurley 33:43 

Complex?

David Novak 33:44 

What would you say is the one word that best describes you? Complex? Who would play you in a movie?

Dan Hurley 33:51 

I was told years ago Billy Bob Thornton but that's because I curse a lot and the bad Santa Billy Bob.

David Novak 33:56 

If you could be one person for a day besides yourself,

Dan Hurley 34:00 

who would it be? Jose Marina as a coach,

David Novak 34:04 

what's your biggest pet peeve?

Dan Hurley 34:06 

Breaking Game Day superstitions.

David Novak 34:09 

Your number one game day superstition.

Dan Hurley 34:12 

It all starts with the underwear dragons, wolves or sharks.

David Novak 34:18 

What's the first word or phrase that comes to mind when I say George Brett? Idol? And how about when I say Jersey City? Dogs. John Wooden. The go test. Bob Knight. Mount

Dan Hurley 34:33 

Rushmore goats?

David Novak 34:34 

Dean Smith,

Dan Hurley 34:35 

Mount Rushmore goats. Jim Calhoun, Mount Rushmore goats.

David Novak 34:41 

What's something about being a coach? Most people

Dan Hurley 34:44 

will never appreciate the responsibility.

David Novak 34:46 

Who's your go to peloton instructor?

Dan Hurley 34:50 

Chess King?

David Novak 34:51 

What are a couple of your required reads for your players books?

Dan Hurley 34:55 

The Alchemist you know I love for them And then I would say how champions think by Dr. Bob Rotella.

David Novak 35:04 

What's something about you a few people would know, of really spiritual? That's the end of the lightning round. Great job. And I have just a few more questions. I'll let you go. Okay. One of the guys I work for Tim Cherie wrote this great book, secret society is success, and you gave it to your staff. What was it about that book that you thought was so good?

Dan Hurley 35:27 

I just think what makes people successful, the secrets are out there. You know, they're really smart people. You know, like Tim and yourself that write books and podcasts, you know, so the habits, the mindsets, the behaviors, the things you could do to help you become a more successful person, that's gonna raise your self esteem and raise your confidence and, and help lead you to a happier, more fulfilling life. Like the informations out there. Read it, learn it, apply it.

David Novak 35:57 

You know, as you think about this upcoming season, Dan, what needs that happen? Before you would say it's a success,

Dan Hurley 36:04 

you have just feel like we got I think, you know, two things got the most out of the team. You'll reach your absolute potential in terms of winning as often as we should, based on, you know, how good we are, and that, you know, that enough of the individuals have increased their value, by the way we performed? What would be your

David Novak 36:27 

unfinished business? Do you still feel like you have something to prove? I mean, you obviously got the monkey off your back, he got that national championship, but how do you look at the future? I think,

Dan Hurley 36:36 

like anyone else that pushes themselves hard. The goalposts always move. So for me, I think, you know, I always dreamed of winning a national championship. You know, and now your you dream of becoming a Hall of Fame coach. So I just think that the goalposts always move and you're always want the next thing.

David Novak 36:57 

What would you be doing if you weren't coaching? Dan, I'm curious, you know, what

Dan Hurley 37:01 

I had an interest in, in maybe being a lawyer, I think law always interest me.

David Novak 37:07 

That's something big a few people would know, I'm sure.

Dan Hurley 37:10 

With my cut with my college grades, I don't think I would have gotten into many law school. So that's a good thing I paid attention to pops.

David Novak 37:20 

Last question here, what's the best piece of advice you can give to aspiring leaders, your work

Dan Hurley 37:25 

at it, it's also it's got to be in your heart, you've got to be somebody that's like, like, energized by being a leader. And it also like leadership does get more comfortable. The comfort level of speaking and, and inspiring the group in a meeting setting or right before competition, or you just you get better at all aspects of, of leading and coaching. If you keep working at it,

David Novak 37:54 

you know, just listening to your data, you're all over it, you're having a blast, you're working your ass off, there's no question about that. But when you think about it, you know, what have you had to give up? To get to where you are? Is there anything you've had to give up the to really achieve the kind of success you have?

Dan Hurley 38:12 

Yeah, I would say you're probably some friendships. You know, some friendships I've probably lost along the way. You know, maybe, you know, hobby, you know, you know, maybe like a golf or some type of hobby that I guess people like but, you know, i The two things that I give all my time to or to, or two things that I just I love so incredibly, which is you know, I love basketball. I love the cult that I'm a part of at UConn and, and my wife Andrea and my kids, like, that's where I want all my time to go and my family.

David Novak 38:49 

Dan, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to be on this podcast and sharing your insights. I really appreciate you and I wish you all the best this year and hope you get another national championship. You know, I've been a UConn fan for quite a while. I lived in Wilton, Connecticut when I was with Pepsi. So I got a little bit of heart for you guys. So keep it going. Yes.

Dan Hurley 39:10 

You know what the winters are like here. They make the tough. Yeah. Well,

David Novak 39:16 

I could tell one thing for sure. You are not a wimp. Okay. You are a tough guy. I don't think I could have played for you. Of course I couldn't play for too many people anyway.

Dan Hurley 39:27 

That's all good. Thanks, buddy.

David Novak 39:29 

I appreciate it. My pleasure.

Well, no doubt about it. DAN HURLEY is one passionate guy is great to see us intensity and his love for what he does shines through in every word he says. And that passion really drives him day in and day out. Yeah, sure. He passed in the glory of winning that NCAA champion. Ship. But you know what, he only took a week to do it. Then it was back to work watching film, recruiting, and thinking about how he's going to run those intense practices. And you know, because he really models that passion and drive in his own life, he's able to get the same kind of intensity from his coaching staff and his players. They buy in and believe more, because they can see that Dan walks the talk. He's always pushing himself to do better to learn more. And Dan reminds us, there's no substitute for that kind of work ethic. It's the hallmark of great leaders in every walk of life, no matter what the task is, they roll up their sleeves and dive in. They put in the hours to stay sharp, sure, they celebrate their success. But then they look to that next big goal and start pushing themselves to reach it. Now, as you probably know, this is the point in the podcast where I offer a bit of coaching to help you apply this big idea to your week, I'm tempted to tell you to go out and just buy a pair of Lucky underwear. It seems to be working great for dad. But as fun as those game days superstitions are, you and I both know that his success has way more to do with his incredible work ethic and drive. So with that in mind, I want you to look at one place in your life that could use a little more of that kind of intensity. Ask yourself, where have you gotten a little complacent? And what would it look like to push yourself in that area? That relentless drive to stay sharp has served Dan well in his career, and I know it will be a difference maker for you to. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders keep pushing themselves. And coming up next on how leaders lead is Admiral Mike Bolin. This is a guy who keeps pushing himself. And he was the 17th, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Admiral Mike Mullen 42:08 

All leaders have to have people around them who will close the door and say, Hey, you got this exactly wrong. And I was blessed to have a guy named John Kirby, who was my public affairs officer for for 10 years and is now in the National Security Council. When he was in uniform with me, he's the one that would close the door and say you got that completely wrong. And I expected that That's never easy Madison to take. But it was really important medicine to have.

David Novak 42:39 

So be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader that you can be