Calhoun Contract Question & Marquette

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

This morning on Connecticut radio, Chaz & AJ of WPLR interviewed Ken Krayeske, the reporter who asked Calhoun if he would take a pay cut question.   The reporter cited as a proof positive that his question was on target because Marquette students held up giant dimes with Calhoun's face on it.  He thought it was great.

[Brewtown Andy]

What a nimrod.

[krocheck]

Here's my thoughts.  Yes, economic times are tough.  Fact is UConn has one of the best athletic programs in the country and it has reached that status because of, in part, Calhoun's work with the men's program.  He is one of the winning-est coaches in D-1 (2nd active, 7th all-time).  The PROGRAM can afford to pay him his salary and I feel he is deserving.

Now, to MU.  I don't know what Buzz is paid, but I felt that TC was horribly overpaid.  He was the highest paid D-1 coach (may still be) that has not won a national championship.  At least that's what I recall from Tribune articles years ago.  I never agreed with how much TC was being paid given the program's successes and failures at the time.

If you only watch Calhoun on the court on in that press conference you'd think negative things about him.  The press conference after the MU game was very different.  Genuine sorrow for Dom.  Thankful for every player in his 37? years, and he can recall the names of most of them.  He remembers his first win.  He wants his men to succeed not only on the court but also in life.  At the same time he may have been a little softer since it was also his 800th win.

My point.  This reporter was just trying to find a person to blame for stealing the state's money in hard times and the fact is he picked a poor target.  Students latch onto controversy without, themselves, always getting all the facts and making their own call.  If he really plans on citing an another team's student section's reaction to his controversy as proof for his argument, he does not deserve to be a journalist.  If the UConn student section holds up dimes with Calhoun's face on it ... that's a little better, but still way off.

Keith

[chapman]

Students latch onto controversy without, themselves, always getting all the facts and making their own call.  If he really plans on citing an another team's student section's reaction to his controversy as proof for his argument, he does not deserve to be a journalist.  

Exactly.  If you did a poll, most of the students who brought the signs or did the chants wouldn't think he's overpaid or just don't care.  It was just a convenient event that game them something to taunt Calhoun with. 

[Phi Iota Gamma 84]

Didn't he have to cut the presser short to make a recruiting visit out in Wales?

[LovinCrowder]

The guy is a jerk...he whined about everything...every call that went against his players and every call that didn't go against Marquette when he felt it should .. and I don't know if anyone saw this, but halfway during the second half, he went off on a guy sitting in the front row behind their bench and started yelling that he wanted the guy thrown out because the guy was "voicing his opinion about him" (LOL) -

[GGGG]

The guy is a jerk...he whined about everything...every call that went against his players and every call that didn't go against Marquette when he felt it should .. and I don't know if anyone saw this, but halfway during the second half, he went off on a guy sitting in the front row behind their bench and started yelling that he wanted the guy thrown out because the guy was "voicing his opinion about him" (LOL) -

If Calhoun were coaching at MU, we'd love him.

[Marquette_g]

If Calhoun were coaching at MU, we'd love him.

True or not, that doesn't make him not a dick.

[GGGG]

True or not, that doesn't make him not a dick.

Most coaches are that way...but we love them when they are ours.  I know a couple of non-Marquette fans who thought Al McGuire was a cocky, egomaniac after a couple of interactions with him.  I never met the guy so I don't know if that was true or not.  Even if it is, I don't really care...I love the guy. 

[Marquette_g]

I think we are just arguing opposite sides of the coin.  I would agree that we tend to look at our own with rose-colored glasses.  However, that doesn't excuse being a jag.

With that being said, there are coaches out there, whom I do not think are as big of d-bags as Jim Calhoun. 

In sizing up the Big East coaches from likeable to arrogant pricks, I'd put Jim C. near the bottom of the list (along with Pitino and Bobby Gonzalez).  Near the top of that list I'd go with a guy like JT III.  While Boheim whines, I don't think he tries to bully in the same way as Calhoun does.  His arrogance is kept at least marginally in check. 

[Warriors4ever]

I have no problem with Calhoun getting paid as much as he does because his program brings in a ton of money. I don't even have a problem with him going off on the guy. The "reporter" was way off-base and a tool - but so is Calhoun for his whining, arrogance and intimidation.

[Spotcheck Billy]

The stories about UConn BBall and Calhoun over the years have lead me to think Calhoun may be a great coach but as a person he seems to be a dick. When A.J. Price & Marcus Williams were arrested for stealing and reselling laptops but were not kicked off the team - would a student (non-athlete) have been kicked out of school for the same offense?

Price was kicked off for one semester IIRC. You often will hear about the dirty recruiting tactics Calhoun employs such as recruiting kids already committed to another school or how Holy Cross had to drop out of the Coaches vs. Cancer tourney this season because Calhoun didn't want to play them which was a big blow to HC because their coach and one of their players are both cancer survivors and had written to the organizers asking to be invited: http://www.epiccarnival.com/2007/09/jim-calhoun-hates-kids-with-cancer.html

[HoopsMalone]

He might not be a friendly midwestern guy, but that does not necessarily make him a jerk.  He might just be a little bit more forward with his thoughts than we are in the Midwest.