Bob Hurley Has Chased Perfection

To say Bob Hurley knows coaching basketball is like saying a fish knows water. Hurley has coached five undefeated teams at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey; won over 1000 games in his career and was just the third high school coach inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He joined the BFT Wednesday to talk about his coaching career and his new book “Chasing Perfect.”

Right away Hurley was asked about how he has changed his coaching style after almost 40 years wearing the whistle. Hurley said he thinks he has become better at explaining what he wants his players to do, meaning he doesn’t have to physically demonstrate as much on the court – which at age 65 he’s more than fine with. He went on to say that the youth camps he now coaches during the summer afford him the opportunity to experiment with coaching styles.

“I’m like the mad scientist in the lab, trying to come up with different ways and better ways of teaching the game,” said Hurley.

Hurley has released a new book called “Chasing Perfect.” When asked about how much of the book was about basketball and how much was about life, Hurley explained that while the book is set to the backdrop of his undefeated teams, it will address the challenges facing his players as well as changes his own life from the mid 1970’s to the present. He also said that much of what is discussed in the book – passion and attention to detail, for example – is paralleled by successful individuals in other industries.

As someone who has worked with young adults for nearly four decades, Hurley was asked about how new media has adversely affected young adults in terms of communication between teammates and as with society as a whole.

“When I get my kids up during the season to talk about the next game coming up [and] how important it is, in the beginning of the year it’s painful,” said Hurley. “They’re just not used to [physically] interacting with others now. They’re used to [communicating] technologically.”

He went to say that he thinks kids now are talking more about their careers and future plans than they are playing, and that social media has had its own role in the process.

“Kids are on Twitter making their announcements for college – it’s become a full-blown fiasco,” said Hurley. “I wish we were back to the old days where the kids were so humble they didn’t even know if they were good enough to play in college. [Then] when they got there, they were so hungry that they really excelled.”

To listen to the entire interview, click below: