UConn head coach Dan Hurley said coaches who are taking advantage of recent court rulings to make late additions to their programs are doing more harm than good.
In the wake of a federal judge in Colorado granting a preliminary injunction and blanket waiver for athletes in the 2022 high school class to play a fifth year under new NCAA rules, Hurley said the current climate is "unsustainable." He said additions this close to the start of class -- teams can begin to practice 42 days before their first game --impact high school players and create an unfair advantage.
"You can't act like it's not a victimless situation. I mean, there are kids that are 17, 18 years old that potentially may lose out on opportunities," Hurley told reporters on Friday. "So it's not victimless. At some point, you've got to care about the sport, especially if the sport has given you a lot. If you're a coach and the sport has given you a lot, it's like doing things to hurt the sport so that you can win a little bit more. I think you've got to be able to look in the mirror on that, especially if the sport has given you a lot already."
The NCAA's decision to block potential fifth-year players under its new five-year, age-based eligibility rules preceded a series of state and federal cases that it will either successfully fight in court or lose, potentially leading to an influx of players who could change rosters in the upcoming season, weeks before the season starts.
On Friday, Texas Tech announced that former All-Big 12 first-teamer Darrion Williams, who entered the 2026 NBA draft but was not selected, was returning to the Red Raiders following a one-year stint at NC State. Florida's Denzel Aberdeen could be a major addition to the Gators' roster, and Donovan Dent, the former UCLA star, is a rumored addition for multiple programs.
But the judge in the Colorado case also clarified that players would have had to put their names in the transfer portal when it opened in April to take advantage of the preliminary injunction the NCAA is actively fighting.
Amid the chaos, Hurley said he won't add any players to his roster and said that the current climate, which also involves a push to pass a federal bill to regular collegiate sports, is "frustrating."
"Now you can screw up high school recruiting. You could screw up portal recruiting, not have a very good team, and now start plucking from a group of players in August and put together a team. It makes it tough." he said. "We did the best we could do in high school recruiting. Now you've got this selection of portal players. You put together the best team you can. You start practicing for the summer and now let's unleash 80 players into the sport in the first week of August. I mean, we can't go on like this."
With the return of NCAA tournament hero Braylon Mullins, Hurley's squad will chase its third national title in five seasons. He said his team is beginning to look like a squad that can compete once the season starts. Inserting another player after months of building chemistry, he said, would be unimaginable.
"We have meetings with compliance and if compliance says that something is illegal and we can't do it, or a player is ineligible based on the rules, our reaction as a university is not, 'Let's go find a lawyer in Willimantic, Connecticut, or something,'" he said.
