Dan Hurley is coaching in his third national championship game in the last four Men’s NCAA Tournaments, something that hasn’t been done since Mike Krzyzewski did it in the 1990s.
He’ll do so with a suit that is on its last legs.
The Connecticut basketball coach, known to be superstitious, will rock the same outfit he has for each of the Huskies’ last five wins in March Madness vs. No. 1 Michigan on Monday in Lucas Oil Stadium, even though his suit jacket is in need of seeing a tailor.
“I’m going grimy,” Hurley told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander after UConn’s Final Four semifinal win over No. 3 Illinois on Saturday.
Hurley rocking the same suit through the entire Men’s NCAA Tournament isn’t something new for the two-time national championship coach. He’s been rather open about his superstitions over the years in March Madness. Remember the good luck dragon boxers? He’s also thrown holy water along baselines for a sign of good luck.
Another superstition of Hurley’s is wearing a holy beads bracelet that he has been wearing for every game that he has coached in, going back even as far as his days as a high school basketball coach in North Jersey. He almost didn’t have the beads with him for the Illinois game, as his wife, Andrea Hurley, had to rush back to the team hotel to grab them.
“He got this bracelet years and years ago in church. They’re holy beads from Jerusalem, so they said,” Andrea Hurley told CBS Sports on Sunday during an interview. “I had to leave the arena last night, run in the rain, grab the beads … and then I got a police escort.”
Here’s a look at Hurley coming off the court on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, where he’s talking about his jacket with UConn Sports Information Director Bobby Mullen, and even told Mullen to look at his jacket:
Dan Hurley outfit for Men’s NCAA Tournament championship vs Michigan
Hurley’s superstition is part of his charm, and what makes him one of the more unique and colorful coaches in the country. This is by no means a jab at Hurley. It’s what makes him his true, authentic self.
It also just works, and you’ve got to respect that. Hurley enters Monday’s game vs. Michigan with an 18-1 record in his last 19 NCAA Tournament games, and a 5-0 record in the Final Four.
Here’s a video of his arrival at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday, where he’s wearing the same outfit he wears coming off the bus: a UConn t-shirt, a UConn baseball cap, his AirPods and that now legendary suit:
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