Bob Hurley

Bob Hurley

Robert Matthew "Bob" Hurley, Sr. (born July 31, 1947) is the basketball coach at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. Hurley has amassed 26 state championships and more than 1000 wins in 39 years as a coach, creating a national powerhouse despite older facilities and financial limitations. On February 2, 2011, Hurley became the tenth coach in high school history to win 1000 games. Five of his teams have gone undefeated, including his 2007-08 team. On April 5, 2010, he was announced as the only coach to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame that year and only the third high-school coach in history to be so honored; he was formally inducted on August 13 of that year. Hurley is the father of Bobby Hurley, a former All-American point guard at Duke, and Dan Hurley, who was hired in February 2012 to coach the University of Rhode Island after two years of coaching at Wagner College and 9 years coaching at Newark's Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, also one of the top high school programs in the nation. Danny has since hired Bobby as the associate head coach at URI.

Hurley's undefeated 1989 team, which featured Jerry Walker, Hurley's son Bobby, Terry Dehere, and Rodrick Rhodes, was ranked first in the nation by USA Today. Three of the players on that team — Bobby Hurley, Dehere and Rhodes — were first round draft choices in the NBA draft. That team won New Jersey's first Tournament of Champions and amassed 50 straight victories in a two-year span. It is generally considered one of the best teams in New Jersey history.

Hurley's 2007-08 squad was also undefeated, finishing with 32 wins and no losses and ranked number one in the U.S. even though no starter is taller than 6'6". The '08 team, with six seniors accepting Division I basketball scholarships, also won Hurley's 10th Tournament of Champions, winning its state tournament games by an average of more than 27 points per game. The team also won St. Anthony's 26th state championship, more than any other school in U.S. history. Hurley was the coach for 23 of those teams and an assistant coach on the other two. His teams are known for their speed, defensive intensity, and precise ball movement.