Jim Calhoun Biography
Jim Calhoun is a prominent retired basketball coach. He is the former head coach of the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team. In 2009 he won the 800th game and finished his NCAA Division I career with 873 victories, ranking 11th all-time as of Feb. He is considered one of the greatest coaches of all time.
Jim Calhoun Age
He was born James A. Calhoun on May 10, 1942, in Braintree, Massachusetts. He is 81 years old as of 2023.
Jim Calhoun Wife | Kids
He married Patricia McDevitt in on August 20, 1966. The couple has two sons and six grandchildren.
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Net worth
He has a net worth of $12 million as of 2023.
Jim Calhoun Early life and education
He was offered a basketball scholarship to Lowell State but only attended the school for three months after which he returned home to help support his mother and siblings after his father died of a heart attack. Jim worked as a gravedigger, shampoo factory worker, granite cutter, and headstone engraver in order to support his family.
He stayed for 20 months leave from higher education and returned to college at American International College in Springfield Massachusetts where he was offered another basketball scholarship. During his junior and senior years, he was the leading scorer on the team.
In his final year, he captained the team during which AIC advanced to the Division II playoffs. He was ranked as the fourth all-time scorer at AIC. He graduated in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
Jim Calhoun Coaching career
High school
In the 1968-1969 season, he began his coaching career at Lyme-Old High School in Old Lyme, Connecticut after he accepted a sixth-grade teaching position.
He returned to Massachusetts after deciding not to complete the necessary certification paperwork to renew his teaching contract in Massachusetts and working in Conn after finishing 1-17 that season.
He accepted a position at Dedham High School and began building a very strong program. In 1971, he completed a 20-1 season. He guided the Dedham High School team win the Massachusetts High School Bay State Championship with a perfect season of 18-0.
Northeastern University
He was recruited by Northeastern University in Boston to serve as their head coach. In 1972, he took the position of head coach. In 1979, he transitioned the team from Division II to Division I.
Under him, the team advanced to Division I tournament 4 times. Automatic Northeastern achieved bids to the NCAA tournament and had a 72-19 record during his final three seasons.
Connecticut
He was named the head coach at the University of Connecticut on May 14, 1986. He completed his first season with 9-19.
In 1988, he led the Huskies to a 20–14 record and a bid to National Invitation Tournament, where they defeated Ohio State to win the NIT championship.
In 1990, he led Huskies to their first Big East championship, the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, and a 29–6 record in only his fourth year at the helm. and he was named the consensus National Coach of the Year.
He won his first NCAA national championship as he led UConn to its first-ever Final Four and national championship over favored Duke in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In 2004, he led Huskies to another national championship and the team completed the season as the number one team in the nation. On March 21, 2008, they lost for the first time in overtime to San Diego.
He achieved his 700th win at Gampel Pavillion over the Georgetown Hoyas on March 2, 2005. Later he achieved his 800th win at the Bradley Center over Marquette on February 25, 2009. He has coached 23 UConn players who have moved on to professional ranks.
Jim Calhoun
Sanctions
The NCAA investigated potential violations in UConn’s recruitment of Nate Miles (a
recipient expelled without ever playing a single game for the Huskies) in March 2009. In February 2011, he was cited by the NCAA for failing to create an atmosphere of compliance and was suspended for the first three Big East games of 2011-12 season.
Health Problems
He announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer on February 3, 2003. He took an immediate leave from the team and underwent surgery three days later to have the cancer cells removed.
On February he was released from the Hospital and he once one again got back to his day-day operation of the program. He returned to the sidelines for the team’s match-up with St. John’s at Gampel Pavilion, only 16 days after the surgery on February 22.
UConn announced that Calhoun was undergoing treatment for squamous cell carcinoma on May 30, 2008. In June 2009, he fell during a charity bike event and broke five ribs.
He later took a medical leave of absence from coaching as a result of spinal stenosis on February 3, 2012. Less than a week after having a back surgery he returned on March 3, 2012, to coach the team to a win over Pittsburgh in the final game of the regular season.