Former UConn men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun appears to be completely done with coaching. He is stepping down as head coach at the University of Saint Joseph, a small Division III school in West Hartford, Conn.
Calhoun came out of retirement after five years away from the sport to help launch the USJ program in 2017. A year later, the Blue Jays had their inaugural season, going 16–12. In year two, the 2019–20 season, the team went 26–3, reaching the Division-III NCAA Tournament.
After a shortened 2020–21 season, finishing 2–2, Calhoun says the time is right to step away from coaching once again.
“You’ve got to know when it’s time,” Calhoun told the Hartford Courant Thursday. “We’re a really good team. The program is in great shape, we’re going in the right direction, now’s the time.”
Glen Miller, a longtime assistant of Calhoun's at UConn and the former head coach at Penn, Brown, and Division III Connecticut College, takes over the program.
Saint Joseph president Rhona Free was complimentary of Calhoun's contributions to the school in helping launch its men's basketball program.
"Coach Calhoun has stayed longer and done more for USJ than I could ever have hoped when we first talked to him about launching our men’s basketball team and with it, the transition to coeducation almost five years ago," Free said in the school's statement. “No student athlete could have a better coach and advocate—he monitors and cares about their performance and success in every aspect of their lives. While nobody can replace Coach Calhoun, we’re fortunate that Glen Miller has been here throughout and can continue to build the program and lead this team to another successful season.”
Calhoun leaves college basketball with a lifetime 917–397 record, with his impressive runs at Northeastern and Connecticut at the Division-I level.
He led the Huskies to the Division-I national championship in 1999, 2004 and 2011, before stepping away from the Big East program at the end of the 2011–12 season.
