Golf with Jim Calhoun - A delightful 4 hours

[CT Pirate]

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7108425554072059904/

Link to a post on Linkedin which shows a pic of me with Jim Calhoun last week after I played a round with him at Point Judith County Club (part of an auction win from a good friend and colleague from my ad agency days). He was giving thumbs up to all my Setonian friends that I told him suffered all the beat downs he administered on us at the XL Center and Gampel (ones that I witnessed). A fun afternoon playing golf and talking hoops.

He adores P.J. to this day. Still talks with him a lot. Says he was the friendliest of all the Big East coaches. Loved Walker ("he was a guy that could of played for me at UCONN") Feared Dehere. Felt Blaney got a very raw deal - thinks the Hall may be one of the hardest jobs given the lack of committment from the leaders. Said the Rumeal Robinson call was bogus. He tried hard to recruit him - Mass guy. His player that went the furthest was Kemba Walker - was cut from the high school team. Still can't believe Cliff Robinson played 18 years in the Association. Proudest of getting Caron Butler is straighten out and become a pro.

He loved Dana O'Neil's Big East book.

Thinks that UCONN needs to continue to look for another conference. It's inevitable. Not a big fan of what the AD is doing with them. Feels he needs a bigger personality that sells the Huskies harder.

Could have talked for another four hours.

 

[wpc75]

I ran into Coach back in 1997 at US Open in Washington DC. Walked with him and he was pissed at SHU for the way they treated Blaney back then. Echoed his same thoughts here 25 years later.

 

[Robot_Man]

Very interesting, and thanks for sharing. Always respected him but have to reluctantly admit that I like him a bit more after reading this (especially for the PJ stuff and the bit about the Michigan call).

 

[Burnsly]

I bet he cheated.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

I ran into Coach back in 1997 at US Open in Washington DC. Walked with him and he was pissed at SHU for the way they treated Blaney back then. Echoed his same thoughts here 25 years later.

Possibly also liked the idea of Blaney here instead of Amaker for his own recruiting. LOL

 

[Seton75]

No one did a biggeer turnaround and made it stick than Calhoun. Awesome career for Jim C

 

[Seton75]

Possibly also liked the idea of Blaney here instead of Amaker for his own recruiting. LOL

If he looked at our attendance during GBs run here he may change his mind.

 

[Section112]

Great post thanks! Were you able to understand him - he talks really fast.
I bet it was a fun round!

 

[PJVegas]

Great coach, but on the recruiting trail it is well documented he bad mouthed EVERY BE coach, including PJ.

 

[Hall91]

Guy would shake Your hand then backstab you. Probably not that different from most coaches.

 

[CT Pirate]

Great post thanks! Were you able to understand him - he talks really fast.
I bet it was a fun round!

Thanks. Yes it was. He was mellow and not hyped up like on a court as a coach. I have always despised UCONN. He made me mellow a bit on my hatred for all things Huskies.

 

[PiratePride]

good stuff

 

[dehere23]

Great coach, but on the recruiting trail it is well documented he bad mouthed EVERY BE coach, including PJ.

1000% in both respects. Single best program building job in my lifetime when you consider the BE landscape he walked into at Uconn and where he got that program.

 

[cernjSHU]

1000% in both respects. Single best program building job in my lifetime when you consider the BE landscape he walked into at Uconn and where he got that program.

It certainly is the best turn around and made UConn into a national program. I wonder what would have happened if PJ stayed for his career. Could he have sustained Seton Hall as a program and turn it into a national program?

 

[Seton75]

It certainly is the best turn around and made UConn into a national program. I wonder what would have happened if PJ stayed for his career. Could he have sustained Seton Hall as a program and turn it into a national program?

Yeah. I wonder too but fear pj's pj-ness was gonna kill him in college. We saw that in his late yrs recruiting.

 

[cernjSHU]

Yeah. I wonder too but fear pj's pj-ness was gonna kill him in college. We saw that in his late yrs recruiting.

I’m not sure about that. PJ was going for players that were being recruited by Kentucky. So yeah he didn’t land Rhoderick Rhodes. But he did land players like Donnell Williams and Levell Sanders. PJ’s bad recruiting season would be cheered here now.

 

[Section112]

PJ also knew SHU's administration and the school's limitations better than anyone, although he was there with Presidents who believed in basketball (Msgr. Petillo and Father Peterson). He admitted in multiple interviews that he was not fond of recruiting which lead him to the pro ranks. He had great relationships with all the other BE coaches and was well respected.

So many what ifs? We also tried hard to bring in Pete Gillen who had a lot of success in college.

 

[TheHall87]

Yeah. I wonder too but fear pj's pj-ness was gonna kill him in college. We saw that in his late yrs recruiting.

It was apparent we were starting to slip during P.J.'s time here and to be fair we probably had to expect some regression to the mean. From the Final Four appearance, each of our NCAAT runs ended one step short of the previous one.

PJ also knew SHU's administration and the school's limitations better than anyone, although he was there with Presidents who believed in basketball (Msgr. Petillo and Father Peterson). He admitted in multiple interviews that he was not fond of recruiting which lead him to the pro ranks. He had great relationships with all the other BE coaches and was well respected.

So many what ifs? We also tried hard to bring in Pete Gillen who had a lot of success in college.

I think it was clear that while P.J. was good at it, he didn't enjoy recruiting.

Then he got the taste of NBA life as an assistant with the Dream Team and that gave him an entry point to the league. I'm sure it didn't hurt that Portland offered him a contract for what was then a very substantial amount of money when he left in 1994 (or that Golden State doubled his salary when he was fired after three years in Portland).

 

[dehere23]

It certainly is the best turn around and made UConn into a national program. I wonder what would have happened if PJ stayed for his career. Could he have sustained Seton Hall as a program and turn it into a national program?

I think you had that potential consistently for sure. But I still think Uconn was harder. PJ had a difficult hill-to-climb, no doubt. And did a terrific job, which is why I always defended him when the Willard comparisons started. Apples and bowling balls.

Recruiting in those days was more regional and localized. NY and NJ was such a hot bed. That helped PJ get kids. Calhoun didn't have that.

 

[Coach 107]

Outstanding coach. I go all the way back with him to the Northeastern U days, when he built that program into a monster in the early 80's. As a coach, he could be a bear though. Hard on kids in his younger years, and only the strong survived with him. Could be very acerbic, but those who knew him well appreciated him, kind of like with Huggins. I just knew him in passing on the recruiting trail but I'll never forget Calhoun and his top lieutenant at the time Karl Hobbs, flying in on a private jet to see one of my players at a tournament, and then flying right back out.

Little known fact is that he coached future DI coaches in Dave Leitao and Dr. Glen Miller at Northeastern, and Steve Pikiell at UConn.

 

[donnie_baseball]

So many what ifs? We also tried hard to bring in Pete Gillen who had a lot of success in college.

...and Skip Prosser!

 

[garyshu71]

PFP helped him a whole lot. It’s no wonder UCONN rolled into NIL so prepared to do business. Enough with the UCONN love fest!