The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Hall of Fame coach will start as consultant at St. Joseph
Hall of Fame coach will start as consultant at D3 college
WEST HARTFORD — Jim Calhoun says his favorite basketball memories aren’t necessarily the national championship wins over Duke and Georgia Tech or the rivalry wins over Syracuse and Georgetown.
He remembers wins as a high school coach in Dedham, Massachusetts 45 years ago just as fondly.
With that in mind, the Hall of Fame head coach is almost going back to his roots at the University of Saint Joseph. The small, Division 3 program in West Hartford formally introduced Calhoun on Thursday as …
Well, not as head coach. At least not yet. For now, Calhoun will simply be known as a consultant to the fledgling men’s basketball program, which won’t start up until 2018-19.
“I’m thrilled to be here,” Calhoun said at a press conference. “I’ll always be a Husky, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have another love, too.”
While all signs point to Calhoun becoming the program’s first head coach, nothing is official yet. It can’t be. Calhoun is still employed by UConn, under terms of a contract he signed when he retired after 26 years as the Huskies’ head coach in September, 2012. That contract expires at the end of March, 2018. Until then, it would be a conflict of interest for Calhoun to be coaching another college program while still employed as an ambassador for UConn.
So, for now, Calhoun is a consultant. Saint Joseph’s announced on Thursday that former UConn assistant Glen Miller will be hired as a full-time coach, as well.
“There are a lot of people on campus that consult with people,” UConn athletic director David Benedict explained. “Coach, at this point in time, is going to consult with St. Joe’s as they approach having a basketball program. If, at whatever point in time, they change because of
what his desire is, we can have that conversation.”
It’s clear, however, that Calhoun intends to be the program’s head coach – at least for one season.
“I terribly missed coaching on a daily basis,” he said. “Getting up at 6 a.m., getting on a bus to go to Providence, or when I was at Northeastern to go to Orono, Maine. It can be a cold, long day in December, but you get that win? Yeah!”
“I think at some point, that’s going to be up to him,” said Saint Joe’s athletic director Bill Cardarelli, who was an assistant on Calhoun’s first UConn team in 1986-87. “I think he misses it. He understands our mission here. Is it gonna be difficult? Sure. But we’ve got calls already from kids that want to play.”
Calhoun said he’d love to bring in as many local kids as possible, but has already heard from some of his contacts in the sport from as far away as Israel.
“If you’re a 6-8 kid and can play,” Calhoun said with a wink, “we just might take you.”
Saint Joseph’s just decided to go co-ed in June. It is expected to enroll about 50 male students (perhaps more) beginning next fall. It is also starting up men’s soccer, swimming & diving and cross country programs, to go with basketball.
Cardarelli, a New Haven native, reached out to current UConn men’s coach Kevin Ollie, women’s coach Geno Auriemma, Rutgers coach (and former Husky player and assistant) Steve Pikiell and others shortly after the school decided to go co-ed and add men’s sports.
He met with Calhoun and asked him if he missed coaching. When Calhoun hesitated, Cardarelli immediately knew the answer.
“I’m intrigued,” Calhoun eventually told him.
It’s certainly an intriguing decision by Calhoun, owner of two national titles and 873 wins at the Division 1 level.
“I know he wants to be on the sideline,” said Ollie. “I know he’s gonna be involved in those young kids’ lives. They’ve got a great mentor, a great second father figure, a Hall of Famer to look up to. He’ll be a blessing to any kid, to even spend 10 minutes with him … but him being out there day-to-day, being able to recruit will be great for St. Joseph, great for our state and great for the student-athletes there.”
Added Benedict: “I’m supportive of Coach and his desire to impact young men. My dad was a coach, so I grew up in a household with someone who that was their passion. If Coach feels like he can go there and provide St. Joe’s help in building their program, prior to them starting it, I’m happy for him to be doing that.”
Asked why he thought Calhoun took the job, former Husky great and current CCSU head coach Donyell Marshall replied: “He’s bored.”
“He loves the game, he misses the kids,” Marshall added. “We talk all the time. It’s something that’s in your blood, man. I think he’ll be a great mentor down there. If he ends up coaching, I think he’ll be a great asset there. It’s gonna be different, going from coaching All-Americans to coaching Division 3, academic kids. But, he loves challenges. He’s always been that way. It’s gonna be interesting.”
Interesting, indeed. Intriguing, even. But there was Jim Calhoun on Thursday morning, in a small room on the bucolic campus of the University of Saint Joseph, taking over a brand-new, Division 3 men’s basketball program.
“At 2, 3 p.m.,” he noted, “I’ll be in a gym some place, looking for future Blue Jays.”