Calhoun: ‘With or Without a Whistle’ Won’t Let UConn Fade Away [WFAN]

Jim Calhoun intends to be a big part of UConn basketball long after he retires as coach, he told WFAN’s Mike Francesa on Tuesday afternoon.

“When you put 26 years of your life into something, you want to make sure it keeps going,” Calhoun said. “We’re not going away, and I would want to be someone, with or without a whistle, that doesn’t allow that to happen.”

Calhoun has expressed some of this sentiment at the Big East Tournament and at Gampel Pavilion on Sunday night. With the possibility that UConn could be excluded from the NCAA Tournament next season or that Calhoun, 69, who missed a month tending to a spinal ailment, is nearing the end of his coaching career. The incoming athletic director, Warde Manuel, has said Calhoun will have “significant input” in naming his successor when the time comes, but Calhoun indicated on WFAN he is not retiring any time soon.

His contact, which runs two years after this, calls for a continuing role.  “I would no question be a part of it,” Calhoun said. “I think I can offer an awful lot.

As a parallel, Calhoun noted that John Thompson, who stepped down as Georgetown coach in 1999, has, in recent years, been a presence around the program, and has had a positive impact. His son, John Thompson III, is head coach.

Click here to listen to the entire interview with Mike Francesa and Jim Calhoun