Calhoun Is Greeted With Open Arms These Days

He stood there amid the bright TV lights, surrounded by media people carrying cameras, microphones and notebooks. He wore a pattern tie, white shirt, charcoal gray slacks and a double-breasted navy blue blazer. The blazer’s gold buttons matched the golden globe trophy he was holding hip-high.

“Would you like to put that down?” asked a female reporter, particularly mindful of such burdens since she is carrying twins.

“Yes, thank you,” Jim Calhoun said. Then, having done that, he assumed the basic contemplative Calhoun pose: He folded his arms.

These days, most people greet Calhoun with open arms. When he came to Storrs in May 1986, some people thought the UConn Huskies should pull out of the Big East conference. Today, they are on top of it.

Today, Calhoun is greeted with open arms not just by alumni, students and fans, but by Big East Commissioner Dave Gavitt, who loves an annual Cinderella story that underlines his conference’s competitive balance.

Soon, Calhoun may have job offers elsewhere. Some of them may be quite fancy. Even as Connecticut hugs him close, there may be other, enticing open arms.

When you do what Jim Calhoun has done, a lot of people ask you to dance. Thursday morning at a downtown hotel, they came to praise him. Calhoun was holding golden globe hardware because Big East coaches had voted him Coach of the Year. Any other verdict would have warranted a federal investigation.

“It’s probably one of the few times that it’s not at a basketball game that it (the setting) is very emotional for me,” Calhoun said.

It was mid-morning and Calhoun, 47, all dressed up for center stage, was looking crisp. But up close, you couldn’t help but notice the folds of skin on his neck, a reminder that even a life spent coaching a kid’s game won’t keep anyone looking forever young.

But the way people flocked around Calhoun Thursday, you’d have thought he was a newborn.

Maybe that’s because, in the national sporting eye, he is. For three seasons, his main job at the coach’s media day that precedes the Big East Tournament was to accommodate the Connecticut media. When you’re coaching a perennial Big East have-not, the only thing out-of-state media people want is colorful quotes about what it’s like to get hammered by Syracuse or Georgetown.

Thursday, Calhoun’s Huskies were the lead story in the sports section of USA Today -- with a picture of Chris Smith at the top of page A1.

And, when a reporter asked Calhoun which Big East teams were “on the bubble” -- borderline choices for a berth in the 64-team NCAA Tournament -- the coach of the Big East co-champions, underscoring the obvious, said, “I don’t think we are. I talked so much about bubbles last year, I could have opened my own factory.”

Yes, times have changed.

So have perceptions.

The first time I knew Calhoun had to be a good coach was when, in one season, his first at UConn, he helped turn senior Gerry Besselink from a 6-foot-9 stiff into one of the best rebounders in the Big East.

Wednesday, Calhoun got a congratulatory telegram from Besselink.

“I’m very proud of you,” it said.

Calhoun is proud of Besselink, even if others paid him scant attention. Besselink was a late-blooming player on a lousy team. Being ignored came with the territory.

“Gerry Besselink was the only kid besides (Georgetown’s) Reggie Williams who averaged double-double (figures) in points and rebounds,” Calhoun said. “And he wasn’t even (all-conference) third team.”

Nor was Chris Smith a pick for the conference’s all-freshman team last season. UConn had a 6-10 conference record last season. Losers don’t get the breaks.

This season, the Huskies, 25-5 overall, were 12-4 in the conference and Smith was voted second-team All-Big East. Nadav Henefeld and Tate George were third-team selections. Henefeld was Rookie of the Year.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

As it has lifted Calhoun. For a guy so clearly confident of his abilities, Calhoun has a nice way of crediting others for his success without sounding like he’s full of it. He did that Thursday, repeatedly, until someone virtually insisted that, somewhere inside him, there must be a little man jumping up and down at having won this award, at having orchestrated such a stunning turnaround of UConn basketball.

“You’d watch some other people getting the (spot)light,” Calhoun said, referring to his early days, anonymous days, during his 14 years at Northeastern. “And you’d say, ‘I can do that.’ There’s something in you that says, ‘I want to show them.’ I didn’t think I couldn’t coach when we were 9-19 (his first season at UConn). There is some self-satisfaction. I’m saying that these lights are very nice.

“But it’s not everything.”

Wednesday night, Calhoun went to Boston to see Cliff Robinson and the Trail Blazers play the Celtics. Phil Gamble came up, too.

“You and Phil helped set the table,” Calhoun told Cliff, “and we’re eating a great meal.”

Now comes dessert -- tournament time.

“If we play poorly from now until eternity,” Calhoun said, “it won’t take anything away from this basketball season.”

A canny coach seeking to diminish postseason expectations, to prepare over-zealous legions for a fall? Sure. But also a wise man who, for all his hard-driving instincts, understands that, no matter what happens from here on, this team deserves only open arms from its fans -- a big hug.

As does James A. Calhoun, Big East Coach of the Year.