Legendary college basketball coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement from the game for a second time. Calhoun, who is known best for his 26 seasons with the University of Connecticut (UConn) where he won 3 Division I National Championships, had spent the last four years coaching at the University of Saint Joseph (CT) in West Hartford, Connecticut. He was the first Head Coach of the Blue Jays basketball team that was introduced as a division III program ahead of the 2018/19 season. The Blue Jays went to the NCAA Division III tournament in Calhoun’s second year posting a 26-3 record (11-0 against Great Northeast Athletic Conference opponents) for the 2019/20 season, but they would lose in the first round. He guided the Blue Jays to an overall record of 47-17 from the start of the 2018/19 season through the first three games of the 2021/22 season. He now has 920 wins as a college basketball head coach, which is 9th all-time.
Calhoun has built successful basketball programs everywhere he’s coached starting with his first head coaching job at Northeastern University in 1972. Northeastern was a Division II program at the beginning of the 1972/73 season, which was Calhoun’s first with the team. The Huskies went 19-7 that year. Calhoun led the Huskies into a successful transition to Division I during the 1979/80 season. The Huskies went 19-8 that year and won the regular season title in the Eastern College Athletic Conference-North (now called the America East Conference). Calhoun kept the Huskies relevant as they would make it to the NCAA Division I Tournament five times since the 1979/80 season, but advanced past the first round only twice. Calhoun left Northeastern after the 1985/86 season to fill the head coaching vacancy at UConn. He finished with an overall record of 248-137 (95-24 against conference opponents) in 14 seasons at Northeastern.
Jim Calhoun was hired by UConn to take over head coaching duties ahead of the 1986/87 season. The Huskies had a dismal first season under Calhoun as they finished 9-19 (3-13 against the Big East). The Huskies improved to 20-14 in the 1987/88 season, but they were 4-12 against the Big East Conference. They qualified for the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) that year, and advanced all the way to the final where they beat Ohio State for the championship. It was the first NIT title for the Huskies in program history. The Huskies made it back to the NIT following an 18-13 (6-10 against the Big East) 1988/89 season, but lost in the Quarterfinals to UAB. The Huskies made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Calhoun following a successful 1989/90 season where UConn went 31-6 (12-4 against the Big East), but ultimately lost in the Elite Eight to Duke. The Huskie would remain a powerhouse program for the rest of Calhoun’s tenure with the team. They made it to the Final Four 4 times (1999, 2004, 2009, 2011), and won the National Championship 3 times (1999, 2004, 2011). Calhoun retired from UConn following the 2011/12 season after 26 years with the team. He went 625-243 (276-163 against conference opponents) in that stretch. He had 873 career wins as a coach at the time of his first retirement.
Jim Calhoun is well known for building strong basketball programs, but when he signed on as the first head coach at the University of Saint Joseph (CT), he literally built the basketball program from scratch. He coached two full seasons before a partial 2020/21 season that was cut short by the pandemic, and coached just three games of the 2021/22 season. In his first year, the Blue Jays went 16-12 (5-6 against Great Northeast Athletic Conference opponents) in 2018/19. In the 2019/2020 season, Calhoun’s second, the Blue Jays went 26-3 (11-0 against Great Northeast Conference opponents), that included a 25 game winning streak to end the season. They made the Division III tournament that year, but lost in the first round against Hobart. The 2020/21 season was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic with the Blue Jays playing just five games. Calhoun coached four of those and went 2-2. He coached just three games to start the 2021/22 season and won all three prior to his retirement announcement. The Blue Jays went 47-17 under his leadership. Calhoun now has 920 wins as a college basketball head coach, which is 9th all-time. The 79 year-old coach is likely done for good this time.
Calhoun said that he met with the athletic director prior to announcing his retirement and expressed that he “felt the program is in good shape and that the groundwork has been laid for long-term success for the Blue Jays”. He also said “though I am retiring from coaching, I still plan on playing a smaller role with the university to continue support for the basketball program”.
