It's Time To Say Goodbye

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This year’s edition of the Huskies is extremely young and therefore, needy. The players are needy for a coach who develops their confidence with positive reinforcement, constructive criticism and an extra dose of patience. Yes, it’s certainly within the boundaries of college coaches to get after a player by getting in his face, especially in practice, but that approach is inappropriate during games. I would like to think that one of your major objectives as a coach would be to develop your young players’ confidence by establishing a sense of mutual respect between coach and player. Unfortunately, Calhoun’s approach during games shows neither.

This past weekend two of the area’s largest newspapers wrote an article about Calhoun and his band of young players. The overriding theme was that, in Calhoun’s eyes, the team was suffering from a confidence crisis. Now I wonder how a coach such as Calhoun can make such an accurate assessment of his team while at the same time ignoring the fact that he and his tactics are a big reason that the players are struggling in the confidence department.

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My eldest son, Chris, attended Saturday’s game at the Hartford Civic Center against Rutgers and when he got home he described to me an incident he observed during the second half of the game involving Coach Calhoun and freshman Doug Wiggins. Seated just five rows behind the Rutgers basket, Chris was well within earshot to hear the profanity-laced tirade that Calhoun unleashed, screaming within inches of Wiggins face in what was nearly an uncontrollable show of anger and rage. I thought for a moment my son may have been overplaying the situation but a picture in one of Sunday’s papers actually shows the exact incident and the look on Calhoun’s face was outright scary.

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My son went on to tell me that as Calhoun was screaming profanities in Wiggins’ face, everyone who is anyone (as I mentioned earlier, state and college officials, corporate executives, etc.) couldn’t help but hear Calhoun dropping the "F"word at an alarming rate during his tirade. I’m sorry, but that type of behavior by any other state or public official would be grounds for an immediate reprimand or possibly even a dismissal. For some reason, though, when it comes to Calhoun, people who observe his antics firsthand either remain mum or actually find themselves being entertained.

Enough is enough. There are plenty of good coaches out there. Virginia’s Dave Leito and George Washington’s Carl Hobbs are two possible replacements who come to mind — both of whom have strong ties to the UConn program. Leito has shown his ability to both recruit and win, both during his stay at DePaul and now as coach of the University of Virginia, while Hobbs has done the same at GW. Either of these two coaches would be acceptable replacements for Calhoun. If the university chose instead to form a search committee to find a new coach I’m sure they could find a suitable replacement that way, too.

The way I see it, all good things must come to an end. If Indiana can cut Knight loose, then UConn can certainly cut its ties with Calhoun. Yes, he has played a major role in making the Huskies a household name in the world of college basketball. However, his behavior on the sidelines has gotten to the point where it is downright embarrassing to everyone involved in UConn basketball. Nothing, and that includes winning, can justify Calhoun’s profane tirades directed toward young players, some of whom are still in their teens.

The way I see it, it’s time to say "see ya" to Coach Calhoun.