On the day Bobby Hurley was hired as ASU's basketball coach in April 2015, the Arizona Republic's master headline read: "Hurley brings instant relevance to ASU."
Sun Devil president Michael Crow said, "You have to win 60 to 65% of your games, in conference, or you have no hope of ever competing. We have to get this program 25 to 30% more effective than it has been."
Hurley has won 43.9% of his conference games at ASU. That's 83-106 overall.
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley looks on during the second half of an NCAA basketball game against BYU, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo/Rob Gray)
The once-grand UA-ASU basketball rivalry, which hit its zenith in the Fred Snowden vs. Ned Wulk days of the 1970s, has not been revived. ASU is not seen as Arizona's much-sought arch-rival. Hurley's clubs have lost at McKale Center by scores of 99-61, 105-64 and 113-100 and are 4-17 overall against the Wildcats.
I bring this to your attention because Hurley will make what is likely to be his final appearance at McKale on Wednesday. The Sun Devils are ranked No. 92 by Kenpom.com with dreadful back-to-back losses (at home) to not-on-the-radar programs Oregon State and Colorado.
Hurley's contract expires this season. He has been paid roughly $30 million in an attempt to make Sun Devil basketball relevant but, alas, it hasn't worked.
How was ASU so wrong when it seemed so right to hire Hurley away from Buffalo in the spring of 2015? Hurley turned out to be a scheme-coach, not a culture-coach. You must do both successfully to win in college basketball (or football) and Hurley's program has been a revolving door of players and assistant coaches coming and going. He knows the X's and O's as well as anybody, but as you watch Tommy Lloyd interact with his players and staff at Arizona — one of the most likeable and respected coaches imaginable — you can see why Hurley has failed.
When you watch an ASU basketball game, your focus isn't on the competition, it's on Hurley. At what point will he blow his stack and get a T? It's sad.
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley against Gonzaga during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
ASU hasn't been relevant in basketball since 1981, when it climbed to as high as No. 3 nationally under Wulk. But when ASU fired Wulk two years later, it made a hire that was so bad that it has defined ASU basketball for four decades. ASU hired Penn coach Bob Weinhauer, a gruff, unlikable East Coast guy who was, as Hurley, very good at X's and Os but had a temper-tantrum personality unable to foster a winning culture.
ASU athletic director Dick Tamburo hired Weinhauer away from Penn one year before Arizona pulled off a coup by hiring Final Four head coach Lute Olson from Iowa. Tamburo blew it by not hiring Pepperdine head coach Jim Harrick, who went on to lead UCLA to the 1995 NCAA championship; Harrick has been UCLA's best head coach since John Wooden retired. ASU could've had Harrick, a Southern California guy, and recruited on par with Olson.
Instead, Weinhauer was followed at ASU by coaches who couldn't win even 60% of their overall games. Herb Sendek won 53.7% of his games, Rob Evans won 49.8% and Bill Frieder, the best of the bunch, only won 55.0% in eight seasons. Sendek and Evans, who were allowed to coach ASU basketball for a combined 17 years, both suffered from personality bypass syndrome. They were not program builders.
Hurley walked into that trap and has followed suit.
On the day Hurley was hired, Crow told the media, "Bobby will change the mindset, and once we change the mindset we'll be on track." We're still waiting for that day.
