Jim Calhoun   Position: Head Coach Experience: 23 seasons at UConn

As he continues to build on his remarkable coaching resume, University of Connecticut Hall of Fame Head Coach Jim Calhoun has already established himself as perhaps the greatest program builder in college basketball history.

Having completed his 23rd season as head coach at UConn and his 37th year as a collegiate head coach, Jim Calhoun has unquestionably stood the test of time as one of college basketball's legendary leaders and reached two other career milestones in 2008-09---membership in the ultra exclusive 800-win club and a third trip to the NCAA Final Four.

Jim Calhoun's phenomenal coaching success story includes winning two NCAA National Championships (1999, 2004) at Connecticut, earning basketball's highest honor while still an active coach, election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2005, and induction in 2006 with the other greats of the game as a member of the Founding Class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Jim Calhoun's college coaching career includes just two stops---Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Connecticut in Storrs. In 14 seasons at Northeastern, Jim Calhoun led NU from the Division II ranks to status as one of the nation's top Division I mid-major programs. In 23 seasons at Connecticut, Jim Calhoun has transformed UConn from a regional contender to a two-time national champion and Connecticut now ranks among the nation's elite college basketball programs.

In May of 1986, Jim Calhoun was named head coach of basketball at the University of Connecticut and that announcement launched what has become one of college basketball's greatest coaching accomplishments. As head coach of UConn Basketball, Jim Calhoun has led the Huskies to the top of the NCAA basketball mountaintop---winning two NCAA National Championships while also claiming an NIT Championship and taking the Huskies from second division placements in Big East Conference standings to a record-setting 16 league titles and lofty status as the most successful program in Big East Conference basketball history.

Jim Calhoun's 37-year overall record as a collegiate head coach is 805-342, moving into rarified air and status as a member of the 800-win college coaching fraternity with the win over Marquette on February 25, 2009. Coach Calhoun is only the seventh Division I coach in NCAA history to have earned their way into that 800-win club and the 805 coaching wins recorded by Jim Calhoun ranks No. 6 all-time in NCAA Division I basketball history.

During his history-making years as head coach at Connecticut, Husky Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun has compiled an overall record of 557-205. Prior to 1986, Connecticut Basketball had posted just two 23-win seasons in history. Since arriving at UConn in the spring of 1986, Jim Calhoun has "averaged" 24.2 wins per year.

Commenting on Jim Calhoun's phenomenal story of success at Connecticut, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, a fellow Class of 2005 Hall of Fame inductee, said, "Jim Calhoun has done as good a job as has ever been done in college basketball history in taking over a program that was at one level and taking it to a totally different place. A lot of coaches have been able to take good programs or even really good programs and keep them at that level or make them a little better, but Jim Calhoun has done something at Connecticut that I really don't think anybody has ever done any place else."

When he arrived at Connecticut as the 17th head coach of men's basketball on May 15, 1986, Jim Calhoun immediately began to chart a new course for success. He promised to "do it the right way, with no short cuts". He noted he wanted to establish a basketball program at UConn that would annually be called one of the top programs in the nation.

Mission accomplished.

Two specific dates headline the Hall of Fame coaching career of Jim Calhoun---March 29, 1999 and April 5, 2004.

On March 29, 1999, Coach Jim Calhoun did what most observers felt was impossible as he led Connecticut to the 1999 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship, beating heavily-favored Duke 77-74 in the title game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The 1999 NCAA Championship completed a clean sweep in 1998-99 for the Huskies. UConn won both the regular season and tournament titles in the BIG EAST Conference. The Huskies were the No. 1 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament and Connecticut ran off six straight NCAA victories to finish the year with a single-season school record 34 wins (34-2) and claim the national championship.

UConn finished the 1998-99 season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the final USA Today/ESPN Top 25 poll.

On April 5, 2004, Jim Calhoun cemented his place among the all-time collegiate coaching greats and as a future member of the Hall of Fame by leading UConn to the 2004 national title. In directing Connecticut to its second NCAA National Championship in a six-year span, Jim Calhoun became only the second coach to win multiple NCAA titles since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

In 2003-04, UConn began the season as the consensus No. 1 team in the nation and was one of only two teams to spend the entire season in the top ten.

The exciting run to UConn's second national title also produced the Huskies' sixth Big East Tournament Championship. Connecticut would conclude the season with a final overall record of 33-6. In the six-game string of victories during the NCAA Tournament, UConn dominated its first four opponents by an average margin of 17.5 points per contest.

At the 2004 "Final Four" in San Antonio, UConn stormed from eight points down with less than three minutes left to upend Duke 79-78 in the national semifinals and the Huskies were in charge from start to finish in the national finals, leading Georgia Tech by as many as 25 before winning the NCAA Championship game 82-73 before 44,417 fans in the Alamodome.

Another important date in Jim Calhoun's coaching career, this one taking place off the basketball court, occurred one year after he directed Connecticut to its second NCAA Championship. On September 9, 2005, with some 60 of his former players in attendance, Jim Calhoun's five decade body of work as one of college basketball's greatest coaches was formally recognized when UConn's coach was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

In April of 2005, Jim Calhoun became just the seventh recipient of the prestigious John R. Wooden "Legends of Coaching Award" presented by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Previous winners of the award include fellow Hall of Fame coaches Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski and Lute Olson.

In November of 2006, Coach Jim Calhoun's career achievements were recognized by his peers when he was named a member of the Founding Class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

Now in his 37th as a collegiate head coach in 2008-09, Jim Calhoun ranks No. 9 all-time in NCAA career victories with 41 (38-12 at Connecticut, 3-5 at Northeastern). Coach Calhoun is 41-17 in overall NCAA play (with two NCAA titles).

Jim Calhoun's overall career record for national postseason tournament competition is a remarkable 53-21 (41-17 in NCAA play, 12-4 in NIT play). He has coached in the NCAA Tournament 21 times and in the NIT five times (including winning the 1988 NIT title).

In his time at Connecticut, Jim Calhoun has compiled a stunning 50-16 overall record in national postseason tournament competition (38-12 in NCAA play, 12-4 in NIT play). His 38 NCAA wins at UConn, all achieved in the past 20 years, far outdistances the entire total of four NCAA victories recorded at Connecticut before Coach Calhoun took over the Husky basketball program in the spring of 1986.

Including 2009, Jim Calhoun has led UConn to 16 NCAA bids in the past 20 years. Under Coach Calhoun's direction, UConn is a stunning 26-4 in NCAA First and Second Round competition since 1990. The Huskies have earned 12 NCAA Sweet 16 berths in the past 20 years (including 2009), seven Elite Eight appearances, two NCAA Final Four trips and two National Championships.

Under Coach Calhoun, UConn has captured a league record 16 BIG EAST Championships, ten regular season crowns and six tournament titles.

Prior to Jim Calhoun's arrival as head coach at Connecticut in 1986, UConn had never been ranked in the end-of-the-year National Top 25 polls. UConn ended both the 1999 and 2004 national championship seasons ranked as the No. 1 team in all of college basketball and the Huskies have finished ten different seasons ranked in the National Top 10.

One collegiate basketball writer, authoring an article on Connecticut basketball for a national publication, said it best when he noted, "Bringing the UConn program to this point from where it was when he took over is nothing short of miraculous".

The late Alan Greenberg, a former columnist for the Hartford Courant, boldly stated "the hiring of Jim Calhoun in 1986 was the most important hire in the history of the State of Connecticut."

Jim Calhoun's story of success at the University of Connecticut commenced very quickly when in his second season as UConn head coach (1987-88) the Huskies went on an improbable five-game winning streak following a bid to the National Invitation Tournament and claimed the 51st annual NIT title in March of 1988, beating Ohio State 72-67 in the championship game at Madison Square Garden.

In March of 1990, at the conclusion of only his fourth season as head coach of the Huskies, Jim Calhoun was the consensus choice as the 1989-90 College Basketball National Coach of the Year. He guided UConn to a 31-6 overall record, a year dubbed "The Dream Season" at Connecticut, as the Huskies won both the BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Coach Calhoun was named National Coach of the Year by five different organizations (Associated Press, United Press International, The Sporting News, CBS-TV Sports, Basketball Weekly).

UConn's first Big East Conference championships in 1990 (regular season crown and tournament title) and the Huskies' near-miss at a Final Four berth created a new passion among Connecticut fans as "Huskymania" was born.

During the 1993-94 season, Jim Calhoun and Connecticut basketball would begin a three-year dominance of the Big East Conference unmatched in league history. UConn won three straight Big East regular season titles (through 1995-96), posting a three-year conference record of 49-5 and an overall record of 87-12. In addition, during that three-year span, the Huskies advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight in 1995 (losing to eventual national champion UCLA) and to a pair of NCAA Sweet 16 appearances (1994, 1996).

A number of firsts dotted the UConn landscape during that superb three-year run---Donyell Marshall becames UConn's first consensus First Team All-American in 1994, UConn Basketball was ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time in school history (Feb. 13, 1995), Ray Allen became UConn's first two-time All-American in 1996, and UConn set a Big East Conference and school record by winning 23 consecutive games (Nov. of 1995 to Feb. of 1996)

During the 1997-98 season, Jim Calhoun directed UConn to a 32-5 overall record and the Huskies won both the regular season and tournament titles in the Big East Conference. In a heart-stopping NCAA Sweet 16 game, UConn missed four shots in the final seconds before Richard Hamilton hit a fall away shot at the buzzer to lift UConn to a 75-74 win over Washington. UConn would lose to the nation's top-ranked team, North Carolina, in the Elite Eight, but a young Connecticut team had set the stage for its national championship run one year later.

In March of 1999, Connecticut became the first team in Big East Conference history to win back-to-back regular season and tournament titles and on March 20, 1999, Jim Calhoun and UConn earned their first trip to the NCAA "Final Four" after beating Gonzaga 67-62 in an NCAA Elite Eight game in Phoenix.

One week later, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, Ohio State and Duke fell at the hands of the Huskies and Connecticut became the first team since Texas Western (1966) to win the national championship in its first Final Four appearance.

In March of 2002, Jim Calhoun coached UConn to victory in one of the greatest Big East tournament finals in history, a 74-65 double overtime victory against Pittsburgh as the Huskies again claimed both the regular season and tournament titles. Connecticut advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight behind All-American Caron Butler before bowing to eventual national champion Maryland.

UConn set the stage for its second national championship under the leadership of Jim Calhoun by sharing the Big East regular season title in 2002-03 and advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Following the 2002-03 season, Jim Calhoun received the prestigious Metropolitan Award from the National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC). The award was presented at the NABC Convention at the 2003 NCAA Final Four in New Orleans. The award is given by the NABC on behalf of the National Invitation Tournament and the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association and is presented for continued outstanding service for the enhancement and betterment of college basketball. Previous winners of the award include Mike Tranghese, John Thompson, Dean Smith, Lou Carnesecca, Dave Gavitt, John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Joe Lapchick and Phog Allen.

Connecticut put together a brilliant nine-game winning streak in a 26-day span at the conclusion of the 2003-04 season en route to its sixth Big East Tournament title and second NCAA National Championship. After adding its 2004 NCAA title to the national championship won in 1999, Jim Calhoun and UConn joined Duke as the only schools in the nation with multiple NCAA titles since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

The 2004-2005 UConn season saw one the finest coaching performances in Jim Calhoun's distinguished career. The Huskies had to replace the No. 2 (Emeka Okafor) and No. 3 (Ben Gordon) selections in the NBA Draft Lottery while also overcoming the loss of the school's all-time assist leader (Taliek Brown). In addition, Coach Calhoun and the Huskies dealt with the adversity of two separate life-threatening illnesses to team members.

Despite those obstacles, Jim Calhoun and the Huskies finished the year 23-8 while winning the school's ninth Big East Conference regular season title and 15th overall championship. UConn ended the season ranked in the National Top 20 for the 10th time in the past 12 years and advanced to national postseason tournament play for the 18th consecutive season, one of only four schools in the country to do so.

In 2005-06, Jim Calhoun led Connecticut to a sixth 30-win season (30-4 overall). UConn would earn its tenth Big East Conference Regular Season title, advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the seventh time in the past 18 years, and conclude the college basketball regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation by the Associated Press.

Jim Calhoun is the only coach in the history of the BIG EAST Conference to have been named BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year four times. He earned his first BIG EAST Coach of the Year award in 1989-90 and also won the honor following the 1993-94, 1995-96 and 1997-98 seasons. John Thompson of Georgetown and Lou Carnesecca of St. John's each earned the prestigious honor three times.

In the summer of 2002, Jim Calhoun was selected as a member of the inaugural induction class to the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

After directing Connecticut to both the 1999 and 2004 NCAA National Championships, Jim Calhoun was honored on separate occasions as the recipient of the Winged Foot Award from the New York Athletic Club, recognizing him as their National Coach of the Year. He also received the prestigious Victor Award as 1998-99 College Basketball National Coach of the Year and was the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District I Coach of the Year.

Much like his success at Connecticut, Jim Calhoun's performance as head coach at Northeastern (MA) University in Boston for 14 seasons was nothing short of sensational. He developed a program from Division II status to a nationally-recognized squad which became a perennial NCAA Division I tournament team. At NU, Jim Calhoun won 20 or more games in five of his last six seasons, chalked up a brilliant 135-47 record during that span, and earned five NCAA Division I tournament berths.

His final three years at Northeastern resulted in NCAA automatic bids each season and a three-year mark of 75-19.

At Northeastern, Jim Calhoun's teams averaged 17.9 wins per season. He was a three-time New England "Coach of the Year" and a three-time Kodak District I "Coach of the Year".

In leaving Northeastern in 1986, Coach Calhoun left perhaps the most talented team in the school's history, along with a first round NBA draft pick in senior Reggie Lewis, who later became captain of the Boston Celtics before his untimely death during the summer of 1993.

As was the case at Northeastern, Jim Calhoun's success at producing top-flight collegiate stars, who also excel at the professional basketball level, is an annual happening at Connecticut. A total of 20 former UConn stars that played for Coach Calhoun have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). They include: Clifford Robinson (1989-2007), Tate George (1990-1995), Chris Smith (1992-1995), Scott Burrell (1993-2001), Donyell Marshall (1994-present), Donny Marshall (1995-2003), Kevin Ollie (1997-present), Ray Allen (1996-present), Travis Knight (1996-2003), Richard Hamilton (1999-present), Khalid El-Amin (2000-2001), Jake Voskuhl (2000-present), Caron Butler (2002-present), Emeka Okafor (2004-present), Ben Gordon (2004-present), Charlie Villanueva (2005-present), Hilton Armstrong (2006-present), Josh Boone (2006-present), Rudy Gay (2006-present) and Marcus Williams (2006-present).

Thirteen of those Connecticut stars were listed on NBA regular season rosters in 2007-08, more than any other school in the country. In both 2007 and 2008, Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton and Caron Butler were each named to the NBA All-Star Game roster. UConn was the only college in the nation represented by three players in the contests. Four UConn players have also been members of NBA Championship teams (Scott Burrell with the Chicago Bulls in 1998, Travis Knight with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, Richard Hamilton with the Detroit Pistons in 2004, and Ray Allen with the Boston Celtics in 2008).

A former All-New England player at American International College in Springfield, MA, Jim Calhoun graduated from AIC in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology. At AIC, he lettered three years while leading the Yellow Jacket basketball team in scoring as a junior and senior. He captained his alma mater in his senior year and left the school as the fourth all-time leading scorer along with helping the school earn an NCAA Division II playoff berth. He is a member of the AIC Athletic Hall of Fame and in the summer of 1994 earned the prestigious distinction of being elected to serve as a member of the American International College Board of Trustees. In the spring of 2000, Jim Calhoun served as the main commencement speaker at AIC's 115th graduation exercises and received an honorary degree from his alma mater.

Jim Calhoun began his coaching career at AIC, serving as an assistant basketball coach from 1966-68. After one year as head coach of basketball at Old Lyme High School in Connecticut, and one year as head coach of Westport High School in Westport, MA, Jim Calhoun moved on to become head coach at Dedham High School in Massachusetts. He quickly rebuilt the program, fashioning a 21-1 record in 1971-72 and seeing his club advance to the State Division I semi-finals.

In October of 1972, he moved into the collegiate coaching ranks at Northeastern University in Boston. In the years to follow, the Northeastern Huskies would dominate the ECAC North Atlantic Conference under his guidance. Northeastern won the league's regular season championship four times and shared the top spot two other times in seven years of conference play. NU also won five of the seven league tournaments and Coach Calhoun's record against conference competition in his career at NU was 74-13. While at Northeastern, he was inducted into the NU Sports Hall of Fame.

In addition to his busy schedule as head coach of the Connecticut basketball program, Jim Calhoun and his family are heavily involved in a number of regional and national charitable and educational efforts.

In November of 1998, Jim Calhoun and his wife Pat began a wide- ranging commitment to the cardiology program at the University of Connecticut Health Center, establishing the Calhoun Cardiology Research Fund with a $125,000 gift. In 1999, the Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic Golf Tournament was launched and during the past 10 years more than $3 million has been raised in support of the Jim and Pat Calhoun Cardiac Research Endowment Fund.

In recognition of the dedication and commitment of Jim Calhoun and his family to cardiology research, the entire cardiology program at the University of Connecticut Health Center has been named the "Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center". A formal naming ceremony recognizing the on-going work of the Calhoun family was held in the spring of 2004.

In 2006, Jim and Pat Calhoun became actively involved with raising public awareness and research funding for Autism Speaks. The effort seeks to expand services for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ADS) and their families.

Since 1999, the Jim Calhoun Holiday Food Drive has supported food assistance agencies that serve the State of Connecticut. Nearly $1 million has been raised for the Connecticut Foodbank and Foodshare, providing some 1.6 million meals to families in need across Connecticut and the food drive culminates each year with Jim Calhoun, his family, and his players personally delivering meals to hundreds of families in the Hartford area.

In both 2003 and 2004, Jim Calhoun served as celebrity host of Coaches versus Cancer events called "Hoops For Hope". The black-tie galas raised in excess of $400,000 for the American Cancer Society.

In both 2007 and 2008, The CIGNA Jim Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride was staged to benefit The Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center and Coaches vs. Cancer, a program established in 1993 by the American Cancer Society. The rides have raised more than $500,000 for the Neag Cancer Center while providing more than $50,000 to Coaches vs. Cancer.

In April of 2008, Jim Calhoun was presented with the Coaches vs. Cancer Champion Award by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). The Champion Award, the highest honor of the Coaches vs. Cancer program, recognizes an individual who has demonstrated unique dedication and devotion to the American Cancer Society's fight against cancer.

For the past 14 years, Jim Calhoun has served as Honorary Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, helping generate in excess of $4.5 million to fund diabetes research.

Jim and Pat Calhoun have a long-standing involvement with the Franciscan Life Center, counseling and education center operated in Meriden, CT by the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. The Calhoun family has been involved annually in fund-raising activities by the Franciscan Sisters. Jim Calhoun has been honored with the "Saint Francis Award" for his dedication to Christian values and outstanding athletic achievements and in 1998 the Franciscan Sisters dedicated an outdoor basketball area, "Calhoun's Court", in honor of the UConn head coach at the Franciscan Life Center in Meriden.

Coach Calhoun has also served as an Honorary Chairperson/Director for several other charitable programs including the Ronald McDonald House Kids Classic Golf Tournament, the Ray of Hope Foundation Golf Tournament, the Connecticut Children's Medical Center and Children's Miracle Network, and the "Character Counts" program in the state of Connecticut.

In 2004, Jim Calhoun was the first recipient of an award by the Swim Across The Sound Prostate Cancer Institute and he now serves as the Honorary Chairman for that group's fund-raising efforts.

In October of 2005, the University of Connecticut Alumni Association recognized Jim Calhoun's two decades of outstanding contributions at UConn by honoring Coach Calhoun with its "Honorary Alumni Award".

In the fall of 1999, Jim Calhoun completed work on a book. "Dare To Dream-Connecticut Basketball's Remarkable March To The National Championship" is a first person account by Coach Calhoun of his life as a college coach with specific focus on the 1998-99 season. Working with Coach Calhoun on the book was Leigh Montville, a former senior writer at Sports Illustrated and a UConn graduate.

In 2008, Jim Calhoun shared his secrets for motivation, success and leadership in a book titled "A Passion To Lead: Seven Leadership Secrets for Success in Business, Sports and Life." Coach Calhoun co-authored the book with Richard Ernsberger, a senior editor at Newsweek Magazine.

A graduate of Braintree (MA) High School, Jim Calhoun was a three-sport letter winner in football, basketball and baseball. As a senior captain, he earned All-Bay State League honors in football and basketball. His hometown of Braintree has bestowed a singular honor on Coach Calhoun, naming outdoor basketball courts in a city facility "Calhoun Park". He continues to return to Braintree to speak and conduct basketball clinics for area youths.

Born May 10, 1942 in Braintree, MA, Jim Calhoun and his wife Pat were married in 1966 and live in Pomfret, Connecticut. They have two sons, James and Jeffrey. James and his wife Jennifer live in California with daughters, Emily (born 3/5/99) and Katie (born 12/29/00) and a son Sam (born 6/8/03). Jeffrey and his wife Amy live in Connecticut with daughters Avery (born 1/26/02), Reese (born 4/7/03) and Peyton (born 3/26/05).

Assistant Coaches
George Blaney - Associate Head Coach
Andre LaFleur - Assistant Coach
Patrick Sellers - Assistant Coach
Beau Archibald - Director of Operations