[4] He featured in the team that became champions of the Football League Trophy in April 1996, which resulted in a 2–1 win against Shrewsbury Town at Wembley Stadium.
[13] In their first season they gained a second successive promotion to the Conference North at the Horsfall Stadium with a 2–1 play-off final victory over Bradford Park Avenue.
[14] This completed a treble of trophies in the 2009–10 season as they had already collected the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup[15] and Lincolnshire Senior Shield.
[citation needed] During the summer months the duo bolstered Grimsby's ranks in order for a promotion push, but were hit by a blow, as previous season's top scorer and Player of the Year Alan Connell left to join Swindon Town.
[citation needed] The 2012–13 season started slowly but by Christmas, Grimsby were top of the league and leading a closely contested pack of Newport County, Wrexham and Forest Green Rovers.
Despite leading the Conference for part of the season, Grimsby dropped off towards the end of the campaign and had to settle for 4th place, eventually losing to Newport County in the play-off semi-finals.
[citation needed] On 6 September 2013, joint manager Rob Scott was suspended due to reasons not revealed by the club, leaving Hurst in sole charge.
[citation needed] Grimsby started the season inconsistently, reaching 11th position with 15 matches played, but after much improvement they ended the campaign in 3rd place, six points behind Conference National champions Barnet.
[33] A week later, Hurst picked up his first victory as Shrewsbury manager, defeating League Two side Barnet 3−0 in the FA Cup first round at New Meadow in his second match in charge.
[34] A point earned in a 1−1 draw away at Swindon Town lifted the club out of the League One relegation places, albeit on goal difference only, for the first time since Hurst was appointed on 7 January 2017.
[40] Upon his appointment, Hurst was keen to stress that he could work within Ipswich's £3m transfer budget as outlined in the owner's five point plan, and the club's wage bill which was the sixth lowest in the English Championship.
[41][42] Under Hurst, Ipswich made a very poor start to the season, winning just one of their opening 14 games and losing on penalties to League Two side Exeter City in the EFL Cup.
[46] On 30 December 2020, Hurst and Chris Doig returned to Grimsby,[47] signing 30 month contracts until June 2023 and replacing Ian Holloway who had resigned seven days earlier amid talks of a potential takeover at the club.
[54] In the 2022–23 season, Grimsby advanced to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1939 by beating Premier League side Southampton 2–1 away from home, becoming the first club in the competition's history to knock out five teams from a higher division.
[58] Hurst previously worked as a professional support assistant at Rawmarsh Community School in 2010, combining this with his role as joint manager of Boston United.