NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2013 season
By Joey Loose
2. Bobby Hurley (Buffalo)
Buffalo’s basketball program was nothing special, having never been in the NCAA Tournament and rarely competing for MAC titles. Longtime coach Reggie Witherspoon was out in 2013, leaving the Bulls on the hunt for a new leader. Like previously said, there was nothing remarkable about this program back then, but that would change in the years to come with this new hire.
Bobby Hurley starred at Duke under Coach K before being taken in the first round of the NBA Draft. After a solid playing career, he became a scout at Indiana before eventually starting his coaching career nearly a decade later. He was quite inexperienced when Buffalo brought him aboard, having merely spent three years as an assistant under brother Dan at Wagner and Rhode Island.
Hurley would spent just a pair of seasons with the Bulls, but they were very good seasons for this basketball program. His Buffalo squad finished atop the MAC East in his first season, repeating the feat in year two. That second season was the breakthrough, as Buffalo won the MAC and made their first NCAA Tournament. This Buffalo program was fantastic in the following years, even after Hurley left for Arizona State.