A JERSEY GUY: Some Coaches Simply Have to Coach--At Any Level
When the news broke on Saturday--real sports news in the vacuum created by the ever growing hourly updates about the coronavirus--that Rick Pitino was returning to college coaching at Iona, Jim Calhoun smiled and immediately went to You Tube.
"I found a game between Louisville (then coached by Pitino) and UConn (then coached by Calhoun),''said Calhoun by phone on Monday.""It's funny, I knew the end, but I still had some anxious moments.''
Calhoun, as much as anyone, knows the motivation which brought Pitino, a coach with resume-building stops such as the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky, the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, back to Iona from a stint in exile coaching a professional team in Greece.
He also knows the motivating factor for someone like Pitino, at the age of 67, to reboot his coaching career at a much more entry type level such as Iona.
Pitino offered an explanation, Calhoun, 77, also understood. ""I've coached Kentucky, Louisville, the Celtics, the Knicks," Pitino told ESPN. ""It wasn't about being at the mountain top again. I'm looking to climb the mountain.''
Like Pitino, Calhoun has been to the top of the mountain. He won three national championships at UConn, is a Hall of Fame Coach and has resumed his career at Division 3 Saint. Joseph's in West Hartford, Ct, a school which has just started a program in men's basketball.
In their second season under Calhoun, the Blue Jays finished with a 26-3 record, with a 25 game winning streak which ended with a 4 point loss to Hobart in the NCAA Division III tournament.
""A Coach is a Coach,'' said Calhoun, who said he welcomed Pitino back to the collegiate ranks. "It's more than just winning games. It's being involved, doing something, competing, the joy of watching kids develop.
"I know that after we lost (to Hobart) I told my team, at 27 and at 77 it doesn't feel any different losing an NCAA tournament game.''
Calhoun that the coronavirus issue is different than other national crisis because it has eliminated--or shutdown--sports, which was a sanctuary as much as anything.
"The world is on pause,'' said Calhoun, "and I'm not a pause guy. "Like yesterday, a typical Sunday, would be to go to Mass, work out, watch a little football, basketball or play some golf.
"I have no patience, now everything is on pause. Life comes to a stop in a lot of ways. I've said, the only way I will stop is when I take my final breath.
"The world has never had a break like this. Not many of us have a stop action button. Now we do. In a reassessment, it might be good for all of us.''
If and when things return to "normal'' Calhoun says he will be ready and eager to pick up the baton and start running toward whatever goal he sets for himself.
For now, he is like the rest of us, wondering just what will happen next.