I had the chance to speak with Jim Calhoun today on several topics, most of which related to international recruiting, something UConn has done frequently over the years.
The head man also touched on the following subjects:
Jim Calhoun (AP)
*Making an announcement about return/retirement: “I never had to (announce I was returning) until the last couple of years. I can’t walk off, playing in Houston, Texas, playing in front of 78,000, winning a national championship, I can’t walk off into the sunset. That’s not how I planned to do anything. I’m enjoying everything I normally do as a coach. I’ve always said I’ll take some time after every season, not obviously a lot of time because I have a lot of work to do, but unless I tell other people, I plan to be here.”
*The possibility of an increased role for Kevin Ollie next season: “He’s had a lot of responsibility…but beyond that, Kevin does recruiting, Kevin does a lot of individual work with us. All of us are involved with the daily operations of the program, so I don’t see any drastic change coming.”
*UConn’s scholarship situation: “We have 12 to give right now, so two to give. We have 13 next year. If someone really good came along, and there’s still that possibility over the next couple of months. We have actually looked at two kids who academically just weren’t right for us, but regardless, we have to keep in mind that we’ll lose a lot of these kids over the next couple of years because we’ll have five seniors, so we need to make sure we keep the program at the present pace, where it is right now. We need to get good players.”
