Dan Hurley had no time for any false modesty as he argued with the officials during Connecticut's narrow overtime win against visiting Butler on Tuesday night.
The 52-year-old Huskies head coach attempted to dispute a non-call late in the first half, but in the midst of his pursuit of one official, the intended target returned and turned his attention away from the irate Hurley.
“Don't turn your back on me,” Hurley shouted, as seen in a video that has since gone viral. “I'm the best coach in the damn sport.”
Hurley has led the Huskies to back-to-back national championships, so he certainly has recent history on his side, even if the Connecticut team is up and down 14-5 this year.
But college basketball fans were nonetheless outraged by the comment, though not as belligerent as Hurley was in Storrs on Tuesday.
“I have been praying for his demise since he passed away on the [Lakers]one fan wrote, referring to Hurley's brief flirtation with the NBA that resulted in a six-year, $50 million extension with UConn. 'God is good.'
UConn head coach Dan Hurley shouts at his players in the first half of Tuesday's win
UConn head coach Dan Hurley, left, referee Pat Driscoll, center, and Butler head coach Thad Matta share a light moment during the Huskies' two-point win over the Bulldogs on Tuesday
“This guy crashes every game,” another added, referring to Hurley's frequent and volatile clashes with officials.
“He's not wrong, but he needs to chill too,” another sympathetic fan added.
One X user joked that a “positive self-image is the key to happiness.”
For his part, Hurley does not deny that he has arguments with referees. He just wishes ESPN would turn its attention to other coaches as well.
“I just wish they would point the camera at the other coach more often,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I just wish they would show that these other coaches are losing their minds at the referees in other Big East games that I coach where … I don't talk to referees; I see the other coaches as demonstrative as I am.
'But the camera, of course… I made it for myself. I'm not the victim.'
Hurley told reporters he was upset about a lack of “communication” from the officials, but went on to claim the Huskies have been stymied by officials all season.
And the way Hurley seems to see it, a team as successful as his deserves the benefit of the doubt.
“I don't think there's any program that has won as much as we have that gets refereed as badly at times,” Hurley said.
Solo Ball #1, Samson Johnson #35, Hassan Diarra #10, Jaylin Stewart #3 and Alex Karaban #11 react during overtime of an NCAA basketball game against the Butler Bulldogs at the XL Center
Hurley comes from one of the more famous basketball families in the country.
He is the son of legendary St. Anthony High School coach Bob Hurley Sr., a Hall of Famer who won 26 New Jersey state titles and four national crowns while mentoring six future first-round NBA draft picks.
And Hurley's brother, Bobby, played in the NBA himself after winning a pair of national titles at Duke in the early 1990s. Today, Bobby Hurley Jr. the head coach at Arizona State.
But it's Danny who has taken center stage in the basketball world over the past two seasons, winning a pair of national titles and drawing interest from the Lakers last summer.
Ultimately, Hurley would choose to stay in Connecticut after receiving a raise, and is increasingly seen as a villain in the eyes of rival fans.
“Embarrassing comment that is far from correct in fact,” one fan wrote Tuesday about Hurley's claim to officials.
Of course, Connecticut fans couldn't be happier to have him: “He's 100% right.”
