The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Calhoun responds to lawsuit allegations
Jim Calhoun claimed he never “knowingly treated any woman unfairly because of her gender,” in a statement released Saturday in response to allegations of sexual discrimination in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this week.
Calhoun, the former UConn basketball coach who returned from retirement in 2017 to coach men’s basketball at the University of St. Joseph’s, was also accused of creating a “maledominated, hostile work environment” in the lawsuit against St. Joseph by the school’s former associate athletic director, Jaclyn Piscitelli.
“I am angry and hurt that the reputation that I’ve worked so
hard to achieve for over 50 years — actually, for more than 77 years — was so easily dismissed and thrown aside in return for headlines or eyeballs or whatever the appropriate term is here,” Calhoun said in his statement. “And I’m especially angry that my career and my name are being used for legal grandstanding instead of in support of the victims of discrimination.”
In his statement, Calhoun said he has “stood in support of women’s rights and equality for all for as long as I can remember.” He also noted that he worked for a woman president at UConn and currently works for a woman president at St. Joseph’s.
He admits to being stubborn, demanding and overly passionate on the basketball court — “I am not without flaws” — but said he holds the people he works with to a high standard no matter their gender, race or position.
“I have made mistakes throughout my life and I know that I will continue to do so,” Calhoun said. “However, I firmly and unequivocally, at no time, knowingly treated any woman unfairly because of her gender. In addition, let me be clear, I have never treated any woman inappropriately.”
Piscitelli — who was fired from his job as associate athletic director on June 21 and replaced by Josh Ingham — claimed she was subjected to unfair treatment, specifically noting incidents involving Calhoun, assistant coach Glen Miller, former athletic director Bill Cardarelli and others.
She filed a federal Title IX lawsuit Wednesday in which she accused Calhoun and Miller of treating her in a demeaning way and making disparaging remarks.
In the suit, Piscitelli alleged that Calhoun asked her to open his office door despite his keys being in his hand. In another incident, she claimed he knocked over singleserve
coffee Kcups on the floor and stepped on them before asking Piscitelli to clean it up. She also claimed Calhoun said if he made a mess at home, his wife would clean up after him.
Piscitelli also alleged in the suit that Calhoun referred to her as “hot.” The lawsuit claims that the university’s administration allowed for a “boys club” atmosphere and fired her when she complained about it.
“I’m not sure when asking a colleague if they would mind opening the door because my hands were full became discrimination or when selfdeprecation for being an aging, clumsy husband became an insult,” Calhoun said directly in response to the allegations.
“And call me oldfashioned in this regard ... I use the word ‘hot’ to describe the weather and the temperature of my morning coffee,” he continued. “And the only woman I openly compliment is my wife of 53 years and frankly, I call her ‘beautiful’ or ‘pretty’...because she is.”