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Bob Hurley Jr. was being given an opportunity most assistant coaches dream of, handed the keys to his own Division I program.
Only his dream — at least his current one — included remaining as an assistant for his younger brother, Dan. So he turned down the head-coaching gig at Wagner, opting to join Dan at Rhode Island instead, a move defying assistant coach logic.
“It’s not a usual decision that’s made when an assistant is presented [with a head-coaching opportunity],” said Bob, a two-time national champion at Duke and six-year NBA point guard. “My heart was going with Dan. To do something together as a family at a high level was really a deciding factor.”
It was Dan, after all, who got his brother into coaching, bringing him to Wagner with him two years ago after Bob opted to call a 10-year career as a racehorse breeder and owner quits.
The two former St. Anthony of Jersey City stars, the sons of Hall of Fame St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley Sr., turned Wagner into a winner, orchestrating a remarkable 20-win turnaround in two years. Difficult as that job may have been, making the small Staten Island school matter, Rhode Island will be even more challenging. The Rams went just 7-24 a year ago under coach Jim Baron, have been besieged by defections within the program and are in the beefed-up Atlantic 10, which now counts recent Final Four programs Butler and VCU as members.
Rhode Island administrators zeroed in on Dan as soon as Baron was led go. Athletic director Thorr Bjorn was intrigued when Wagner plucked Hurley from the high school ranks, out of St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey, where he went a mind-boggling 223-21 in nine years, coached four McDonald’s All-Americans – such as Knicks guard J.R. Smith – and had his team among the nation’s elite each winter.
Bjorn lauded the NEC school for the “outside-of-the-box” hire and was even more impressed by Dan’s on-court results. Getting his older brother to come along was the icing on the cake.
“We hit a home run getting both of them,” Bjorn said.
Leaving Wagner wasn’t easy for either Hurley brother, especially Dan. It meant leaving New Jersey for the first time, but it also bothered him that his players at Wagner were never rewarded for their hard work, particularly after last winter when a 25-win season didn’t equate to a postseason berth of any kind.
“If you do that in a conference like the Atlantic 10, you get rewarded really, really well,” he said.
They will look to build up Rhode Island the same way they did at Wagner, by instilling toughness, smarts and determination in their players, by being in peak physical condition and acquitting themselves well in hostile environments, like they did at Wagner.
“We want to go from the Running Rams to that old Dodge commercial, being Ram Tough,” Dan said.
Sophomore guard Mike Powell said workouts under the new regime are nothing like the previous one. No walking is allowed. Just one water break is given. Anything less than maximum isn’t tolerated.
“We work harder than I ever worked in my entire life,” Powell said. “It’s just full, 100 percent effort all the time.”
As was the case at Wagner, where they attracted above conference level talent – such as Michigan State transfer Dwaun Anderson, a former Michigan Mr. Basketball – they are already off to a flying start in recruiting. Rhode Island has picked up nationally ranked Staten Island forward Hassan Martin and highly regarded guard E.G. Matthews of Detroit, to go along with impact transfers Gil Biruta (Rutgers), DeShon Minnis (Texas Tech) and Jarelle Reischel (Rice).
“I believe eventually at Rhode Island we’ll be able to compete with anybody in the country based on what we do in recruiting and how we develop players,” Dan said.
Their coaching styles are as different as their playing careers were. Dan is a screamer, an intense, let-you-know what he’s thinking coach. He’s hands-on, to say the least, while Bob prefers to be more laid back. He’ll pull a player over to offer instructions, instead of bark them out in front of his teammates.
“His delivery is a bit different,” Dan joked.
The roles have been reversed from their younger years when Bob was the star, the point guard at Duke who won the two national titles and was an NBA first-round pick, while Dan a solid, though not spectacular, point guard at Seton Hall.
Now Dan is the big name, the rising coaching star. He may be the younger brother, but he’s the boss.
“I’ll pull the old I’ve-been-doing-this-longer card sometimes,” Dan joked. “I do overrule.”
The current pecking order suits Bob just fine. He could’ve been his own boss. He was offered the Wagner job. He turned it down, after giving it some thought.
Bob imagined his coaching life without his younger brother and didn’t like what he saw. He wasn’t ready to be on his own, didn’t want to miss out on what he sees as the future at Rhode Island.
“I know how far he’s going to take this, that’s why I want to be a part of this,” Bob said.
There is a day soon when the brothers will go their separate ways, when Bob is ready to be a head coach. That time hasn’t come yet.
“It’s a family story for us,” Dan said, getting nostalgic yet still looking toward the forward. “It’s been real neat spending every waking minute together, our families and us too. It’s almost like when we were growing up.”
“At the end,” Dan added, “it came down to two brothers who want to spend more time together before we’re off running our own programs God knows where.”
zbraziller@nypost.com