Podcast Gold: Andrea Hurley’s Memorable Turn

When it came to the Hurley brothers, Duke got the better end of the deal as Danny opted to stay home at Seton Hall. He had a solid career but living up to Bobby’s legend would have been daunting for anyone, let alone a little brother who clearly adores his older sibling but who had no hope of matching his greatness.

At Seton Hall, Danny requested to step away for a bit, overwhelmed by all the forces that lapped at his confidence and vitality.

We always thought that was interesting and deeply human. And we admire both brothers for how much they support each other and that each is the other’s biggest fan.

And as much as we love Bobby, in some ways we’ve grown to like Danny just as much if not more.

For one thing, while he’s a very good coach who is about to take UConn back to being an elite program, with Danny, you always get a sense of the guy beyond just coach speak. He struggles with his temper. He curses too much, something he has said he’s tried to work on. He’s volatile one minute and warm the next. People who know him giggle about his tics and eccentricities, and we mean that entirely in a good way.

In short, he’s not so caught up in being a coach as he is in just being Danny. Who couldn’t love that? Clearly his players do, and so does his wife Andrea. And we’re sure he loves her deeply too.

However, he may not be too happy with her after her appearance on Jeff Goodman’s Good n’ Plenty podcast.

She called in while Danny was outside and quickly revealed that she is a good match for him because she didn’t repress herself very much and probably said a few things that Danny might have objected to had he been in the house.

She told some funny stories about how they met, about his lack of a romantic nature, and about his plan for avoiding the Corona virus.

Most of us are familiar with the concept of Coach Speak, right? Well, there’s a parallel idea for what a coach’s wife is supposed to be. She can certainly be deeply involved in the program like Mickie Krzyzewski and the late Bobbi Olson was at Arizona, or she can be a polite and non-aggressive presence in the crowd like Brad Stevens’ wife Tracy.

What is probably outside the role is to talk about your husband’s shortcomings and eccentricities to a reporter.

While we’re sure Danny wasn’t thrilled with everything she said, some of it was deeply funny and revealing and all of it was loving.

It’s been clear for a while now that the younger Hurley wears his emotions on his sleeve and is constitutionally incapable of repressing himself very much. And while he might feel a bit sheepish about what his wife said, for us it just reinforces that Hurley should be treasured not just for his coaching acumen but also because he - and now his wife - refuse to accept the conventional roles they’re expected to embrace.

They’re just going to be themselves and that’s refreshing.

You can find Goodman’s podcast wherever you usually go and this particular podcast is called Which Hurley is the Craziest with Andrea Hurley.

• Stitcher
• Apple