Flooding and extreme winds from hurricanes are the main causes of fatalities and damage. Flooding is usually from a combination of heavy rainfall, large surface waves and storm surge at landfall. This study focuses on better understanding and prediction of surface wind, waves in hurricanes, and the upper ocean temperature and currents that are important for storm structure and impacts, far beyond the traditional focus on the peak winds. To understand the effects of the air-sea momentum exchange with explicit wind-wave-current coupling, we conduct model experiments using a high-resolution (~1 to 4 km) coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean model, namely the Unified Wave INterface - Coupled Model (UWIN-CM) to simulate Hurricane Earl (2010). We compared UWIN-CM simulation with explicit momentum exchange, separating the atmospheric and ocean stresses (full physics) with a model experiment where the ocean stress is a function of the atmospheric stress (simple physics). Our results reveal that explicit air-sea momentum exchange 1) enhances surface wave growth and propagation ahead of Hurricane Earl (2010), 2) produces an increase in the size of the hurricane in terms of surface winds which has important implications for storm surge, and 3) it reduces hurricane-induced upper ocean cooling by improving ocean currents and mixing. These findings show that explicit wind-wave-current coupling and accurate air-sea momentum exchange in the open ocean and at landfall is critical for predicting coastal impacts. Furthermore, the results from this study have important implications for the sustainable development of future offshore wind-wave energy infrastructure along the Eastern Seaboard of the US and the Caribbean.