Nebraska assistant coach Rason Burno will leave the team to join Bobby Hurley’s staff at Arizona State. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports broke the news on Twitter.
BREAKING: ASU's Bobby Hurley has hired Nebraska'a Rashon Burno as an assistant, source told @CBSSports. Burno was at Florida last season.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 3, 2015
Though it may not seem like it, this is a tremendous coup for Hurley. Burno spent last season as an assistant to Billy Donovan at Florida, and agreed to join Tim Miles’ staff at Nebraska back in May. But it appears that working under Hurley suddenly seemed more appealing and to be honest, it’s easy to see why.
Nebraska had an off year in 2014-15, going 13-18 (5-13 Big Ten) and taking a step back from the previous season, when the team made its first NCAA tournament since 1999.
Hurley has yet to coach a game in Tempe, but consider what he did in two seasons at Buffalo.
Over that stretch, he went 42-20 (25-11 MAC) and led the Bulls to their first NCAA Tournament berth last year. Buffalo also ranked 28th in the nation in scoring and 16th in rebounding, playing a fast and feisty game that frustrated opponents to no end.
Thus, though Miles is definitely the more established and experienced coach, perhaps Burno could not resist the call of Hurley, who got the Arizona State job despite Buffalo not exactly playing in the most competitive conference in the MAC.
Considering how the Sun Devils have not made significant progress in the big dance since 1995, when they made the Sweet Sixteen under Bill Frieder, the appeal of playing for a hard-nosed coach in Hurley explains itself.
Hopefully, Burno’s decision will prove to be the right one.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports