UConn tops Purdue, completing a dominant run to back-to-back national titles
After one of the most dominant runs we've seen in the NCAA Tournament in years, the UConn Huskies join an exclusive club in capturing back-to-back national titles.
In addition to a net, a cup and a ring, Connecticut Men's basketball coach Dan Hurley will collect a $500,000 bonus for the Huskies' victory over Purdue on Monday night in the NCAA Men's Tournament Championship Game.
Hurley will receive a bonus of at least $1.8 million per season, making Connecticut the first school to win back-to-back men's national titles since Florida won in 2006-07. He could reach a maximum of $2 million on his contract depending on the team's academic success.
Hurley received $775,000 of a potential $1 million in bonuses last season, including $175,000 tied to team academic performance, according to documents UConn provided to USA TODAY Sports in response to an open-records request. However, he and the school renegotiated their contract, increasing his salary and maximum annual bonus amount.
His base annual salary for this season was $5 million, which ranked him seventh USA Today's annual Men's Basketball Coaches Compensation Survey.
Hurley came into the NCAA Tournament with a total bonus of $300,000.
Won the Big East Conference regular season championship ($100,000), the Big East Coach of the Year Award ($50,000), the Big East Tournament title ($100,000) and the accompanying NCAA Tournament bid ($50,000).
He earned $50,000 for UConn's NCAA first-round win, $100,000 for reaching the Round of 16 and $200,000 for each subsequent win before Monday night.
Those wins guarantee Hurley the $150,000 he will receive if the Huskies finish in the top 10 of the final USA TODAY coaches poll and/or the Associated Press Media Poll, both of which will be released Tuesday.
Additionally, on Sunday, Hurley Naismith won the National Men's Basketball Coach of the Year award — which earned him another $100,000 bonus.
Hurley's total of $1.8 million is $300,000 more than when Kyle Smith was hired as Washington State's coach this season (he was hired by Stanford).
Hurley's $500,000 bonus for Monday night's win is nearly $125,000 more than venerable Vermont coach John Becker's total compensation for the season.
Hurley's total may be the largest single-season total for a public school basketball coach. Starting with the 2016-17 season, USA TODAY Sports has collected information on bonuses paid to coaches in conjunction with its annual salary surveys, but the schools in that survey vary from year to year.
The survey is based on teams in the NCAA Tournament in a given season, or, in recent years, schools in Power Five conferences and schools outside of conferences that have participated in at least three. Last five NCAA Tournaments.
The top bonus amount recorded by USA TODAY Sports was Virginia coach Tony Bennett's $1.25 million for the 2018-19 season, when the Cavaliers won the NCAA championship. Other basketball coaches to reach the $1 million bonus in a season are Tennessee's Rick Barnes, $1.1 million in 2021-22, and North Carolina's Roy Williams, who won $1 million in 2016-17 when they won the NCAA title.
