Arizona State's Bobby Hurley Entering Critical Season

After 10 years of inconsistency, the Bobby Hurley experience in Tempe may have run its course.

The 2025–26 season will mark a decade for Hurley at the helm of the Arizona State basketball program, and depending on how you look at it, it’s been greatly disappointing.

Now, as he approaches the final year of his contract, the urgency is that much higher.

Hurley came into Tempe with prestige. The Hurley name has been renowned for years in college basketball, and as he grew up in the game, he translated his experience into coaching the Buffalo Bulls for two seasons.

It was a successful stint — he led Buffalo to division championships, as well as winning the MAC.

Arizona State quickly took notice of that success and hired him for the 2015–16 season.

Except, the Pac-12 was a whole lot different from the MAC. The Sun Devils’ first two seasons experienced some turmoil, with a combined 30–35 record, as well as a 12–24 mark in conference play.

Luckily, his fortune turned for the better, as he led the Sun Devils to three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2018 through 2020, including two berths in the NCAA Tournament. Maybe he would’ve had a third if the 2020 Tournament hadn’t been canceled.

Since then, though, it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows.

Basketball has been outclassed by the baseball, football, and hockey programs, as four of the past five seasons have ended with losing records. And it seemed like the 2024–25 season got more chaotic as time went on.

With hope that a new leaf was being turned over, the Sun Devils started 8–1 and looked like a potential Big 12 powerhouse. However, the 10th game of the season is when everything fell apart.

ASU went 5–19 to end the year. BJ Freeman was kicked off the team. Jayden Quaintance battled through injuries and then entered the transfer portal. And five-star recruit Joson Sanon, who had a solid season, left the program to play for St. John’s.

It was Arizona State’s first season in the Big 12, and it was a gigantic wake-up call against powerhouses like Houston, Kansas, BYU, and Texas Tech.

Consistently, the Devils looked overmatched. It got to the point where Hurley admitted that he needed more resources when speaking to the Arizona Republic. Kevin Hicks of SI delved deeper into those comments.

It’s looking like the beginning of the end in Tempe for Hurley. Four-star recruit Jaion Pitt decommitted earlier this offseason, signaling that he got the message that maybe Tempe wasn’t the ideal place for him.

Freshman guard Trevor Best is returning, although he only averaged a measly 3.6 points per game in 12 minutes per contest. Along the way, Hurley snagged Moe Odum from Pepperdine, Marcus Adams Jr. from CSUN, Bryce Ford from Toledo, and incoming freshman Marcus Jackson, the 129th-ranked recruit via 247Sports.

All are fine prospects, but there are no needle movers.

In ten seasons at ASU, Hurley has compiled a 168–151 overall record, but a dreadful 83–104 mark in conference play between the Pac-12 and Big 12. With this being the final year of Hurley’s deal, it feels like the extra-long leash he’s had is starting to wear thin. Most coaches in college basketball don’t get the flexibility that Hurley has received.

Even when you’re basketball royalty, the basketball gods eventually have had enough. The seat Hurley is on is blazing hot, and any false move next season could signal the end of his tenure.