It’s that time of year again. The weather warms up and sportswriters dust off their tired templates begging for Jim Calhoun to retire the way regular people beg 90-year-old grandma not to get behind the wheel for a 20mph jaunt to the pharmacy.
It’s an infatuation that has existed for a number of seasons now, with the voices growing louder after unsuccessful years such as this one. The reasons tend to vary but usually fall into one of two categories: the program is better off without him or he’s too sickly and he must leave to protect him from himself.
The first argument is probably true considering UConn hasn’t won a National Championship in…wait, really?…12 months? OK, nevermind then. It truly is an exercise in delusion to imagine another coach having the sustained success that Jim Calhoun has enjoyed in Storrs. Ignore for a second the three titles, the 800 wins, the Hall of Fame induction and the assorted other accolades that accompany decades of excellence and think about this; Jim Calhoun’s best players have been pulled from Baltimore, New York, Texas, Philadelphia. Calhoun has absconded with players from the shadows of bigger schools near bigger cities and planted them in the pastures of rural Connecticut. Will Chris Mack, Shaka Smart, or another mid-major flavor of the week be able to accomplish that?
Health is a different issue. Calhoun has missed games for several years now due to illness and his various ailments are a concern to fans and followers alike. Here’s where it gets tricky though. The people pleading for Calhoun’s removal are not doctors. There is no diagnosis that says “one more game will kill you.” A quick glimpse at web MD doesn’t return a search for “terminal coaching syndrome.” It stands to reason that if his health was such a severe issue, doctors would not have let him return to the court this season following spinal surgery, and his health-conscious family might intervene as well.
Of course, these reasons are simply the ones given in print. It doesn’t take a detective to see there’s more to the story. Calhoun is a jerk. He’s mean and combative. He’s fiercely protective of his players, sheltering them from ambitious journalists searching for a story. He’s so revered in the state that a negative story about him often paints the writer in a worse light than the subject. For a journalist, it must be incredibly difficult to cover Calhoun.
***********
When the dust settles on this season and UConn surrenders the title of reigning National Champion, Calhoun will eventually make his intentions known. Perhaps he will retire; walking into the sunset before the NCAA drops the hammer on the program he built. Maybe he names Kevin Ollie as his successor, guides him through a season with no tournament reward waiting at the end. Maybe he coaches for another decade. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know this. That decision rests with one man, Jim Calhoun, not writers with obvious agendas and column inches to fill.
