Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun stepping down as men’s basketball coach at Saint Joseph

Jim Calhoun, who has written a memorable postscript to his Hall-of-Fame coaching career at the University of Saint Joseph, will step down effective immediately as the men’s basketball coach.

“You’ve got to know when it’s time,” Calhoun told the 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.”

Calhoun, 79, who led the UConn men to three national championships, has had numerous health issues through the years, overcoming cancer and heart disease, but said he and his wife, Pat, are in good health right now. He will turn the program over to Glen Miller, who has been his associate head coach, and plans to spend the holidays with his family and head to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he has a vacation home.

“Back home in Pomfret, there’s a very happy woman right now,” Calhoun said. “Pat said, ‘I’ve got you back.’”

Calhoun retired from UConn after 26 seasons in September 2012 and spent the next several years working in TV and on other projects, including his various charitable causes. When Saint Joseph transitioned to co-ed and began making plans to start a Division III men’s basketball program, Calhoun was asked for advice. One thing led to another, and he ended up taking on the task in the fall of 2017, a move that brought national attention to the small West Harford campus before a game was played.

With Calhoun on campus, Saint Joseph’s enrollment surged beyond expectations for both male and female students. The school reached its goal of 900 in 2018, four years ahead of its projections.

“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,” USJ president Rhona Free said in a university statement, “and with it, the transition to coeducation almost five years ago. 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 hired Miller, his long-time assistant at UConn, and they built a team, nearly all freshmen, that went 16-12 in their first year, losing the GNAC final.

In his second year, the Blue Jays went 26-3, including a 25-game winning streak, reaching the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament. Meanwhile, with his presence as a spark, Saint Joseph was able to complete a $15 million renovation of its facilities on campus. The school played four games during the COVID-19 pandemic-marred 2020-21 season, winning two. Calhoun said he did not want to step aside off that note, and before this season began, he said he had no plans to stop coaching.

Calhoun and his team opened the new arena with victories over Maine-Augusta and Alvernia on Nov. 6 and 7. The Blue Jays, ranked ninth in the DIII preseason poll, won at Babson on Wednesday night in what will be the last of Calhoun’s 920 career victories at Northeastern (1972-85), UConn (1986-2012) and Saint Joseph, where he leaves a record of 47-17, his highest winning percentage.

At UConn, Calhoun turned a struggling program which had been near the bottom of the Big East into a national power, winning the NIT in his second season, reaching the NCAA’s Elite Eight in his fourth season and winning national title in 1999, 2004 and 2011. The players he left behind were an integral part in the Huskies’ fourth championship, 2014. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2005.

Miller, 58, who was a highly successful Division III coach at Connecticut College and later a head coach at Brown and Penn, has often taken over for Calhoun when health problems forced him off the court.

Calhoun, who met with with his team Thursday afternoon to deliver the news, said he will remain a presence with Saint Joseph and be available to take on tasks for the school. Saint Joseph plans a virtual news conference on Friday.

“Coach Calhoun’s immense legacy has impacted our campus community in so many ways,” said Saint Joseph AD Amanda Devitt. “More importantly, his big personality, his wonderful wit, and his deep love for our student-athletes have changed countless lives. We are forever grateful for his influential work at USJ.”

Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com