When ASU hired Bobby Hurley 10 years ago, I was among those who absolutely loved the hire; I thought Hurley would take advantage of a nothing-special Pac-12 basketball lineup and move the Sun Devils into Top 25 traffic and help restore the one-sided UA-ASU rivalry to its Fred Snowden vs. Ned Wulk days of the 1970s.
We now understand that nothing like that happened. Hurley has won a mere 53% of his games at ASU. Under Hurley, ASU has never finished in the AP’s final Top 25 poll.
So where did Hurley fail?
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley has some questions about a call the Sun Devils didn’t get in the second half of their Big 12 game against Arizona in Tucson on March 4, 2025.
I think a lot of it is that he hired a parade of short-time assistant coaches. He couldn’t get his version of Arizona’s recruiting standout Jack Murphy or a respected mentor like Steve Robinson, who are pillars of the UA program. He couldn’t find a Jim Rosborough to help relate to his players.
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In the last five years, Hurley has lost assistants Ben Wood to Central Connecticut State, George Aramide to Fresno State, Jermaine Kimbrough to GCU, Brandon Rosenthal to the NBA G League, and Anthony Coleman, who is now a player agent for Excel Sports. Among others.
Hurley’s “top” assistant the last decade was probably Rashon Burno, who stayed five years before leaving to coach at Northern Illinois. That’s not how the Top 25 programs do it.
Hurley’s staff this year includes Nick Irvin, who was an AAU coach in Chicago, Yusuf Ali, who was hired from Simon Fraser, and Jerrance Howard, who was acquired from Southern Illinois.
Hurley has always come off as a loner, a one-man gang in a sport, as Tommy Lloyd has shown, that thrives on coaching teamwork and input from high-caliber assistant coaches. At ASU, it’s a one-man show that doesn’t work.
Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at GHansenAZStar@gmail.com. On X(Twitter): @ghansen711
Greg Hansen
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