On a hot Saturday in the Bronx, Dan Hurley walked to the mound at Yankee Stadium to throw out the first pitch ahead of the Yankees' game against the Red Sox.
"Popping in here to Yankee Stadium, the adrenaline is going," said Hurley. "It's amazing when you walk in here."
It's the second year Hurley was invited to throw out the first pitch before a Yankees game. The back-to-back national champion head coach delivered a pitch that sailed a little high. Hurley graded it a D/D- in a tweet thanking the Yankees for the opportunity.
Thanks 27-Time World Series @Yankees!! You are First Class! Disappointing pitch…D/D- https://t.co/39Rthrca0v
— Dan Hurley (@dhurley15) July 6, 2024
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"You spend so much time working and recruiting and getting your team ready for next season that these are really the only moments you get to appreciate the accomplishments," said Hurley. "This is the cool stuff you get to do, the parade, first pitch at Yankee Stadium, going to the White House. These are the cool moments you get to really enjoy the accomplishment but the work is waiting for you pretty quickly."
Hurley's son Andrew and his dad Bob Sr. were on the field with Dan to support him during the first pitch. Hurley shared some fond memories of attending Yankee games with his father and brother when he was a kid.
"[We] went to Yankee games growing up all the time because my dad and my brother were huge Yankee fans," said Hurley. "I would always go against the grain. I was a Royals fan back then. Right now, it's a tie between the Yankees and Red Sox as my second favorite team because I'm sandwiched in Connecticut so I'm in a brutal spot today."
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Hurley, who is very superstitious, also joked that the program is trying to do everything exactly the same this offseason as they did last year because it led to another national championship. That includes Hurley's first pitch at Yankee Stadium.
"We're doing everything that we did last year after we won it, precisely everything and we're not doing anything new," said Hurley. "We're superstitious so if we do everything we did last year, we'll just be back, that's the plan."
