We Reminisce: Jim Calhoun’s Craziest Press Conference At Connecticut

Kevin Ollie takes over today as coach of Connecticut, succeeding his current boss and former coach at UConn, Jim Calhoun. Both were part of a combination farewell/introductory press conference today in Storrs that took listeners through his rocky beginning at Boston’s Northeastern, his drive down to his own introductory presser at UConn with the Boston Globe‘s Jackie MacMullan, and his three national titles. Those 26 years are hard to sum up, with his history with the NCAA’s infractions committee abutting his three title plaques, in one easy way. There are so many moments from that span that you’ll see a lot of top-10 lists.

But instead of The Shot, Kemba Walker‘s ankle-breaking of Gary McGhee and Ray Allen highlights, I wanted to take a last look at another, classic Calhoun press conference. No, it’s not the one where he “wouldn’t give a dime back” for his salary as the state’s highest paid employee; we have to go back a little further. It’s Jan. 24, 2004, and Providence had just beaten No. 4 UConn, 66-56 in Hartford, led by Ryan Gomes. Gomes, straight out of Waterbury, Conn., dropped 26 and 12 on the Huskies. Prodded into a “did you miss on recruiting Gomes?” question, Calhoun practically self-flagellates himself to appease the writer by re-telling the story of Gomes’ entire recruitment.

You may have forgotten about it, or maybe not. Either way it’s worth a revisit (NSFW-ish, because of multiple f-bombs).

What do you think is the biggest moment of Calhoun’s career?

Follow Andrew on Twitter at @AndrewGreif.

Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.

×