NCAA Basketball

Jim Calhoun Didn’t Want To Retire After That Terrible 2011 National Championship Game, So He’s Going To Now

Longtime UConn Huskies men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun is calling it a coaching career after 875 wins, three national titles, and an amount of health issues somewhere in the vast between. According to Andy Katz, the decision comes as a result of a few different factors, my favorite one being his inability to stand for 40 whole minutes and coach in his usual vociferous style. Because if you can’t coach vociferously, you shouldn’t coach by any other adverb.

Retirement has been looming for a while now for Calhoun, who still had two years remaining on his contract. Common knowledge says hanging it up after a championship, his third no less, would make sense. Katz says Calhoun pondered the option, but wanted to take the Dean Smith path and see how he felt the following fall and if his thirst for the game was still there. With highly touted Andre Drummond taking the court for the Huskies, and after winning the least gratifying championship in NCAA tourney history (SERIOUSLY THAT IS THE SADDEST HIGHLIGHT REEL EVER), who could blame him for coming back?

But with health issues pressing and a 2013 postseason ban for his Huskies, Jim just can’t keep up anymore, nor is there any motivation for him to do so in the short term. Calhoun is 70 years old and has put together quite an impressive resume from his 26 years at UConn — one that certainly puts him in the upper echelon of all-time college coaching greats.

[ESPN, photo via Getty]

Follow Jordan Rabinowitz