The Sports Handicapper Remembers Jim Calhoun

(prHWY.com) September 19, 2012 - Los Angeles, CA -- When I think of the active true blue blood coaches of college basketball, very few of them come to my mind. The coaches I think of are Coach K at Duke, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Roy Williams at North Carolina and Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut. Now, I am afraid that Jim Calhoun will no longer be on that list. Coach Calhoun is retiring. Obviously, every great coach has to step down at some point, but it is always a shock when one of the legends say fairwell. When I think of the University of Connecticut, there is only one thing or person that I think of. That person is Jim Calhoun. He single handedly put the University of Connecticut on the map. This is not a shot at the womens program. To be frank, Jim Calhoun was winning there way before the womens program was. In fact, Coach Calhoun is the only reason why the athletic department was able to stay a float. The fact that he always, I mean always put out great teams. Jim Calhoun is the only reason why people know where Hartford, Connecticut even is. I know that might be a stretch, but I think there is some validity to it. The University of Connecticut has been so lucky to have him.

Just thinking back to some of his teams, makes me both happy and sad. You see, personally, I am a huge Duke basketball fan. I have been watching them for a long, long time. Back in 2004, one of Jim Calhoun's teams beat my beloved Duke Blue Devils. The main reason they were able to do so was because of the strategy of coach Calhoun. Emeka Okafor was the center for them. He picked up two fouls fairly early and instead of pushing the envelope with him, he benched Okafor. The commentators were started to ridicule him about the early benching of Okafor. But, as we saw it play out, his strategy worked to perfection. Of course, I am sure that he did not intend for Okafor to pick up two early fouls, but he still made a great adjustment and trusted his other players. When they came out in the second half, they proceeded to pour it on my Blue Devils. Oh, by the way, did I mention that he made this adjustment in the Final Four game? Pretty big time move by the coach. Could you imagine if Duke would have been up by 25 at halftime? People would have been ready to burn him at the stake. Expectations are so high once you reach that level and that round. If his plan on benching Okafor did not work out, they were going to run him out of town. It is like that stuff never occured to him and he was just going to do what he wanted to do, which was the best for his team. I have total respect for a guy that can lead his team and when his players know that if they listen to what he says and they execute his plan, they will win. That is what was so remarkable to me about that particular game. Never once did you see him or his team panic. They knew if they weathered the storm, they would be ok. I think it takes a big time coach to be able to instill that into guys that are in their late teens and early twenties.

I remember all of the health scares that were supposedly going to cause him to retire. What was it, 16 days after prostate surgery that he was back on the bench coaching his squad? He is just relentless. Maybe that is why this time has come. Maybe he just wanted to end things on his terms and not have the decision made for him. If that is the case, then I really admire him for that. It would be so easy to step down from your job if you had health issues. Actually, a few bad health issues. Not him, though. Coach Calhoun obviously loved what he did because life knocked him down, he kept getting back up. Not only getting back up, but going back to do what he loved to do. There is no other way to describe Jim Calhoun and how he felt about coaching. That man loved it. He had to. If he did not love coaching, then he would have mailed it in and stepped down years ago.

I remember his last team that beat Butler in the finals for the national title. I remember that literally none of the analysts gave them a chance to make it out of the second round. They ended up shocking the world by riding that wave all the way to the national title. Don't get me wrong, the game was absolutely ugly. It is a good thing that he is such a great coach because his team could not make a shot to save their lives. They seemed to get it all together at half time because when they came out, they were a different team. They were not lighting it up offensively or anything, but they came out with a lot more intensity. That made all the difference because Butler could not match up to that kind of energy and eventually, Connecticut just smothered them. I think that is something else that shows how great of a coach he is. It shows that even if his team cannot make a shot, he can still game plan to defend the other team really well. By defending the other team, it creates a lot of fast break opportunities and long rebound possessions. I am not sure if that is exactly how he wanted the game to go but I do know this: Coach Calhoun expected to win. His players expected to win. His teams are just mirror images of himself. I know a lot of people that do not care for him and I understand that. But, I also know that everyone who has been around his team or watched any of their games, have a ton of respect for what he does. The game is going to miss Jim Calhoun. Honestly, I am going to miss Jim Calhoun. Thank you for the memories, even if one of those memories stung like hell.

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