Among the many games that took place last week in college basketball, the contest between the University of Connecticut and Marquette added more to the legacy of one of the top coaches in the history of college basketball.
When the Huskies beat the Golden Eagles 93-82, they earned head coach Jim Calhoun his 800th career coaching victory.
What makes this special for Calhoun is that he became only the seventh man in the history of men’s college basketball to break the revered 800 victory plateau.
Calhoun’s accomplishment allows him to join a list that includes the legendary coaches in men’s college basketball history.
Eddie Sutton, Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, Jim Phelan, Adolph Rupp, and Mike Krzyzewski are among those that have won at least 800 games.
Calhoun and Krzyzewski, the long-time head coach at Duke, are the only remaining active coaches in men’s college basketball who have broken the 800 victory mark.
At present, Calhoun is 22 games behind Krzyzewski who is still going strong down in Blue Devil country.
Calhoun began his college basketball coaching career in 1971 when he became the head coach of Division II Northeastern University in Boston.
After earning six regional Coach of the Year awards and helping Northeastern earn automatic bids to the NCAA tournament from 1984 to 1986, Calhoun was hired by the University of Connecticut to bring changes to the college basketball program.
During his 23 years at Connecticut, Calhoun has had only one season where the team’s record was below the .500 mark, and that took place during his first year at the university.
Since taking over in Stoors, Calhoun has lead the Huskies to 14 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournaments, seven Elite 8 appearances and two NCAA championships.
Overall, Calhoun has led the Huskies to a 552-202 record during his tenure to go along with 11 Big East championships.
Despite his success, there were many in the college basketball world who felt Calhoun’s time was coming to a close. The Huskies failed to make the NCAA tournament after 2006-2007 season when they finished 8th in the Big East Conference, followed up by a first-round exit during the 2008 NCAA tournament.
But Calhoun was not ready to call it quits. Calhoun is looking to add to his impressive resume in 2009 as the 27-2 Huskies have become the heavy favorites to earn a trip to the Final Four and another chance at a national championship.
This historic landmark in college basketball could not come at a better time for Calhoun. Earlier this week Calhoun was involved in a vocal exchange during a press conference with a reporter, who questioned whether Calhoun was worth the $1.6 million the university pays him annually.
No matter what you may think about what Calhoun, one thing is clear: he will go down as one of the premier coaches in his time.
Don’t expect the 67-year-old coach to quit any time soon, especially if they make a deep run in this year’s tournament.
Calhoun and his Huskies have a real chance to make a run at the all time wins in men’s college basketball, which was set at 902 victories by Knight.
