I've got nothin'. Just read the press release (and notice how his tenure at UConn is never mentioned):


Hofstra University Vice President and Director of Athletics Jeffrey A. Hathaway has been named the chair of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee. He began his tenure on July 1.

Hathaway has extensive experience on the national level as he has served as the vice-chair of this important committee since July, 2015. Hathaway will serve as the chair from July, 2017 until June, 2019.

"On behalf of the Colonial Athletic Association I would like to congratulate Jeff on being named the chair of the NCAA Men's Basketball Oversight Committee," commented CAA Commissioner Joe D'Antonio. "Jeff has done an outstanding job as the Conference's representative to the NCAA Division I Council, and I know he will tackle the challenges of this new position with the same level of enthusiasm and thoroughness. The NCAA Division I membership will benefit from Jeff's attention to detail, experience and overall knowledge of the college basketball landscape."

The Men's Basketball Oversight Committee ensures that appropriate oversight of men's basketball is maintained, will enhance the development and public perception of the sport and make recommendations related to regular-season and postseason men's basketball. The committee will prioritize enhancement of the student-athlete educational experience (academically and athletically), and in doing so, promote student-athletes' personal growth and leadership development.

The Men's Basketball Oversight Committee also supervises qualifications and/or selection procedures for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. The committee will review recommendations from the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee and process other issues related to the administration of the championship. The committee assumed many of the duties of the former NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Issues Committee and will provide direction to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Rules Committee regarding playing rules. The committee will be comprised of representatives from each divisional subgroup.

The Men's Basketball Oversight Committee shall consist of 12 voting members and four nonvoting members. The voting members shall include four Council members, seven non-Council members and one men's basketball Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member. The Council members shall be comprised of at least one representative from the FBS conferences, FCS conferences and Division I subdivision conferences. The nonvoting members shall be comprised of the chair of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, a faculty athletics representative and a men's basketball student-athlete.

Some of the direct responsibilities of the Oversight Committee include:
- Maintain appropriate oversight of Division I men's basketball;
- Enhance the development and public perception of Division I men's basketball;
- Make recommendations related to regular season and postseason Division I men's basketball;
- Prioritize enhancement of the student-athlete educational experience (academically and athletically), and in doing so, promote student-athletes' personal growth and leadership development;
- Supervise qualifications and/or selection procedures for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship;
- Review recommendations from the Men's Basketball Committee and process other issues related to the administration of the championship;
- Provide direction to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Rules Committee regarding playing rules; and
- Make recommendations on policy issues in Division I men's basketball that are unrelated to legislative and playing rule changes.
- Also oversees the newly-formed NCAA Men's Basketball Competition Committee.
- Work with other basketball organizations such as the National Basketball Association, USA Basketball and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Hathaway just concluded his fifth year at the helm of the Hofstra Department of Athletics. The former chairman of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, Hathaway also serves on the NCAA Council as the Colonial Athletic Association representative. In his new role, he is also an ex-officio member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Board of Directors.

A three-time Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award recipient, Hathaway has seen 11 Pride teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament, seven capture CAA titles, seven earn regular season CAA titles and four other make postseason appearances (National Invitation Tournament and Women's National Invitation Tournament and College Basketball Invitational).

Hofstra University is becoming UConn West (OK, only a couple hundred miles west, but still west). Patrick Sellers is an assistant coach of the men's basketball team, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is a player on the team and now Jeff Hathaway is the school's new athletic director.

Here's the press release from Hofstra on Hathaway's hire:

Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz today announced that the University had hired Jeffrey A. Hathaway, formerly the Director of Athletics for the University of Connecticut and the outgoing chairman of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, as Hofstra University’s new Vice President and Director of Athletics.

“In collegiate athletics, the name Jeff Hathaway means success on any number of levels: in the classroom, on the playing field, in the boardroom, with donors and the media. Most importantly, Jeff’s focus on excellence, ethics, leadership and academics will allow the Hofstra Pride athletics program to move to the next level of excellence,” said Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz. “His tenure at the University of Connecticut was one of unprecedented growth, and under his leadership, we look forward to ushering in a new era of Hofstra Pride athletic success.”

“I am excited to join the Hofstra University community and to have the opportunity to provide leadership and serve the student-athletes, coaches and staff in this outstanding athletics program,” commented Hathaway. “I particularly would like to thank President Stuart Rabinowitz for allowing me to become part of the Hofstra University family.

Throughout my career I have been be part of programs that have competed against Hofstra and I have seen firsthand the success the Pride has had over the years. My primary focus will be on the academic achievement of our student-athletes and providing them the opportunity to participate and achieve in their academic and athletic endeavors as we prepare them for their lives after graduation from Hofstra.”

Hathaway is signing a 5-year agreement with Hofstra University. He will begin in June 2012, at a date to be determined later this week. Eastman & Beaudine assisted in the search, and President Rabinowitz, consistent with the need for confidentiality and speed, consulted with members of the Hofstra University Board of Trustees as appropriate.

“We had an opportunity to bring Jeff to Hofstra so we moved quickly to come to an agreement,” said President Rabinowitz. “We want to thank Danny McCabe and the athletics staff for ensuring a smooth transition.”

Hathaway and President Rabinowitz also confirmed an agreement with Acting Athletic Director Danny McCabe to remain the program’s Executive Associate Director of Athletics

For those wondering about UConn’s NCAA tournament chances, consider these words from – of all people – Jeff Hathaway: “Who’d you play, where’d you play them, how’d you do?”

In a nutshell, that’s the criteria the 10-man NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball selection committee, chaired by Hathaway, will most strongly consider when picking this year’s tourney field.

Hathaway, the deposed former UConn athletic director, repeated that phrase, mantra-like, during a conference call a couple of weeks ago designed to highlight the NCAA's new-found transparency regarding the process. (Yes, the words "Jeff Hathaway" and "transparency" are rarely synonymous, but we digress). At ncaa.org, all the information that the selection committee will be looking at -- the "nitty-gritty" of every team, as well as each program's "team sheets" (they're alphabetical, scroll down a bit for UConn's) -- is available to the public, as well. 

(Of course, all this information was supposed to be updated daily, we were told, but the nitty-gritty page is through Friday's games and the team sheets are only through Feb. 12. Still, it's more info that in the past.)

Essentially, what Hathaway was saying is that a team’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) will be the biggest factor in determining invitations to this year’s Big Dance. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that appears to be the case.

The RPI takes into account a team’s winning percentage (25 percent), its opponents' strength of schedule (50 percent) and its opponents' opponents’ strength of schedule (25 percent). It’s worth noting that the RPI formula also weighs road wins more than it does home wins, while home losses detract more than road losses.

Through games played Saturday (including the Huskies’ heartbreaking, two-point loss to No. 2 Syracuse at Gampel Pavilion), UConn’s RPI was still No. 27 in the land. That’s as good as any of the other NCAA tourney “bubble” teams.

Other factors, obviously, come into play with committee members: the “eyeball” test, how a team’s been playing entering the tournament, how a team has fared without a key injured player, etc. (And yes, Hathaway must leave the room when UConn – or any Big East team, for that matter – is being discussed during the selection process. Hathaway currently serves as a Big East adviser, working predominately from his home).

Personally, I think how a team is playing entering the tourney should weigh heavily. If the tourney were tomorrow, UConn would be 3-7 in its last 10. Its last real good win came well over a month ago. Sorry, that doesn't pass muster in my book. But my book's not the one that counts here.

In the end, it largely comes down to: Who’d you play, where’d you play them, how’d you do?

So where does that leave UConn? Let’s take a look:

Who’d you play? The toughest schedule in America. Hard to believe, considering all the preseason detractors, but UConn’s strength of schedule remains No. 1 in all the land. Many of the Huskies’ non-conference foes – Florida State, Harvard, Central Florida, Arkansas, even Wagner – wound up being better than expected. Add that to the rigors of Big East play, and no one’s played a tougher schedule than the Huskies.

With remaining games against lowly Providence (RPI 155), Pittsburgh (86) and likely a conference weaker sister in the first round of the Big East tournament, UConn’s strength of schedule ranking should take a dip, but likely no more than a couple of spots.

Where’d you play them? UConn has won three games away from home against RPI Top 50 teams: Florida State (20) in the Bahamas, at Notre Dame (39) and at South Florida (47, prior to Sunday’s win over Cincinnati). The Huskies’ worst home loss of the season came against Cincinnati (72, prior to Sunday’s loss). UConn’s worst loss overall, at Rutgers, came on the road.

How’d you do? Against the RPI Top 50, the Huskies are 6-7. They’re 3-3 at home against such teams, 2-4 on the road and 1-0 on a neutral floor.

They’re 2-3 against RPI 51-100 teams – 2-1 at home, 0-1 on the road and 0-1 on a neutral floor – and 9-1 against everybody else.

Add it all up and UConn is still in the NCAA tournament – as of today. Even ESPN “bracketologist” guru Joe Lunardi agrees, apparently even as a 10th seed. But the key words are “as of today.” Beat Providence and Pitt and the Huskies are 19-11 overall, 9-9 in the Big East and almost certainly in – though it would behoove them to avoid a first-round Big East tourney upset. Of course, UConn has yet to win three straight games against Big East teams this season.

Lose one of the next two and UConn would likely need to win at least two games, maybe three, in the Big East tournament to safely get back on the right side of the bubble. Lose them both and just about the only way UConn could get a chance to defend its national title would be to win five games in five days at Madison Square Garden.

And we all know that could never happen, right?

Michael Bradley's injured right ankle is worse than it at first appeared.

Bradley, a redshirt freshman, has a fractured right ankle that will require surgery later this week. He is expected to have to go through six weeks of rehab and should be able to return to action in early December.

Bradley's injury was originally thought to be a severely sprained ankle, and Jim Calhoun said at practice on Saturday that he hoped Bradley would return to action by mid-week. He suffered the injury about three weeks ago and hasn't been participating much in practice, save for stationery bike work. He did, however, participate in the Husky Run on Oct. 12, though he walked most of the course.

Also:

Former UConn AD Jeff Hathaway has landed on his feet. He's been hired by the Big East and named consultant to the commissioner for men’s basketball, commissioner John Marinatto announced.

Hathaway will advise the conference on men’s basketball matters.

Hathaway is a four-year member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and will serve as chair for the 2011-12 basketball season.

Ending whatever doubt still remained, Jim Calhoun has informed UConn president Susan Herbst that he will return to coach the Huskies for a 26th season.

Calhoun, who signed a five-year, $13 million contract extension in May, 2010, has repeatedly said over the past six months or so that he hadn’t made a decision about his return. Even during the Huskies’ improbable run to a third national title last April, Calhoun said he would wait until after spending some time with his family to decide.

He wouldn’t comment publicly on his decision Wednesday.

Certainly, things couldn’t be much better for Calhoun and his program right now. On the heels of the national title, Calhoun has raked in three prized recruits – including one of the top-rated big men in America, Middletown’s Andre Drummond, last week. Jeff Hathaway, the athletic director with whom Calhoun has feuded for years, has left the position and been replaced on an interim basis with Paul Pendergast, an ally of Calhoun’s. Herbst and Calhoun also have great admiration for each other.
Still, Calhoun had apparently put off his decision until Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, UConn’s 2011-12 schedule was made public. The Huskies will kick off their regular season on Nov. 11 at Gampel Pavilon against Columbia. Prior to the game, the 2011 national championship banner will be unveiled. UConn will also play a home-and-home series with Syracuse for the first time since 2006-07.

UConn’s Big East slate begins on Dec. 28 at South Florida. Of course, Calhoun will not be on the sidelines for that game, or the Huskies’ New Year’s Eve bout with St. John’s at the XL Cetner in Hartford or on Jan. 3 at Seton Hall. Calhoun was suspended for the first three games of the Big East season as a result of NCAA violations in the recruitment of Nate Miles.

Obviously, that embarrassment wasn’t enough to keep Calhoun away from the sidelines for good this season.

Jeff Hathaway’s eight-year tenure as director of athletics at the University of Connecticut came to an end on Friday.

Officially, Hathaway has “retired” from the position, though in reality his departure is the result of an unflattering review of his job performance conducted by an independent group called MGT of America.

Hathaway will remain employed by UConn through Sept. 15 to assist in the transition process.

“I have been proud to serve the University of Connecticut for nearly two decades, including the last eight years as Director of Athletics,” Hathaway said in a statement released by UConn. “It is an honor and privilege to have led this outstanding Division of Athletics and to have worked with so many remarkable student-athletes, coaches, staff members and colleagues at the University, the Big East Conference and NCAA … After 20 years of being associated with UConn, I felt the time was right for me to pursue new challenges.”

Senior Associate Director of Athletics Paul McCarthy will assume responsibilities of the athletic director position until an interim director is named.

“I want to thank Jeff for his long service to UConn and our Division of Athletics,” said UConn President Susan Herbst. “The university has had unprecedented success on the field, on the court and in the classroom for more than a decade and he has a great deal to be proud of during his tenure. I join so many others at the university in thanking him for his service and in wishing him well.”

Under terms of the separation agreement between Hathaway and the university, Hathaway will essentially receive his yearly salary of $531,717, minus any compensation he earns from another job in the athletics field. His biweekly payments will cease on Sept. 15, 2013.

Although UConn’s athletic teams are coming off a tremendous season in which the men’s basketball team won a national championship, the women’s basketball team went to the Final Four, the football team went to the Fiesta Bowl and the baseball team advanced to the Super Regionals, Hathaway has come under fire.

Scandal in the men’s basketball program which led to NCAA sanctions, the failure to replace a key fundraising position, drops across the board in season-ticket sales, even highly publicized criticism from a major donor have been among the many issues embattling Hathaway in recent years.

Last month, UConn paid MGT of America, $28,400 to perform a “360 evaluation” of Hathaway’s performance as athletic director. Reportedly, the review consisted of heavy criticism of Hathaway from the more than 30 people with ties to UConn athletics who were interviewed.

The 360 evaluation process has been terminated prior to its completion, according to the separation agreement, and its results are not likely to be made public.

The arrival of Herbst in June may have signaled the beginning of the end for Hathaway, 52. Herbst has strongly supported UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun, a frequent critic of Hathaway’s.

Among other things, sources say Calhoun is unhappy with the way his contract negotiations – which included monetary penalties for his team’s poor APR scores – unfolded, as well as a perceived lack of support from Hathaway during the NCAA investigation. Hathaway told NCAA investigators that he had never seen a coach so obsessed with landing a recruit as Calhoun was with Nate Miles, the key figure in the recruiting violations.

For the past four years, Hathaway has served on the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Committee, representing the Big East. He is slated to serve as the committee chairman this year, though it’s unclear whether his termination at UConn will thwart that honor. The school has agreed not to interfere with any efforts Hathaway may engage in to chair the committee.

Hathaway has been UConn’s AD since 2003, when he replaced Lew Perkins, who left to take over the same job at the University of Kansas.

While it’s impossible to say who will replace Hathaway or when, it could happen soon. UConn took less than two days, after all, to replace Perkins with Hathaway eight years ago.

Here's my feature from today's Register on Jeremy Lamb, who appears even more athletic and confident this summer and is ready to assume a leadership role on this year's Huskies team.

And here, Register columnist Dave Solomon offers some insight on the Jeff Hathaway situation, which appears to be heading towards a divorce with the school.

Over the past few weeks, Kemba Walker has burned just about any player who’s tried to guard him.

He’s torched guys who were the defensive players of the year in their conferences, shot over smaller guards, blurred past 6-foot-8 forwards and forever resigned poor 6-10 Gary McGhee to Craig Ehlo status after an ankle-breaking move for a game-winning shot.


Tomorrow night, DeAndre Liggins gets his chance. Liggins, a 6-6 junior who was the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year, is certainly ready.

“The thing with me is taking on the challenge, being competitive,” the Chicago native said on Friday, “having confidence that I can stop the other guy.”

Liggins has stopped other top players this season, most notably Tennessee star Scotty Hopson (5-for-18, 24 points in his two meetings with Liggins this season). Of course, he wasn’t so successful guarding Walker in the Maui Invitational championship game on Nov. 24. Liggins – and several other Wildcat defenders – allowed Walker to pour in 29 points and lead the Huskies to the title.

“He killed me, he killed us,” Liggins recalled. “He had it going offensively. He has great confidence and my job is to contain him a little more.”

Walker has all but said that no one can stop him in the past, but he was judicious in his praise of Liggins on Friday.

“He’s one of the better defenders because he’s extremely active and had a height mismatch over me,” Walker said. “He’s got great length. I know it’s going to be a difficult, tough night for me. But I’m just counting on my teammates to give me the ball in the right situations and set up some great screens.”

Liggins is anticipating a tough night, as well.

“You can’t stop players like (Walker),” he said. “You just have to do your best on them. If he makes shots over you, then you have to live with that. But he is going to make shots over me (tonight). He is going to make some crazy shots, but I have to keep playing. I can’t get frustrated.”

Cal vs. Cal, Pt. Deux

Not to belabor this, but it is fun: Jim Calhoun and John Calipari are having fun with the (correct) perception that the two don’t get along well.

When asked about their bitter feuds back when Calipari was coaching UMass, Calhoun said: “He was loud, 50 miles away, trying to fight for a little bit of turf in New England … John really was trying to claim New England, he could never say he ‘parked the car in Harvard yard,’ he didn’t know what clam chowder really was. He had the red stuff, not the real clam chowder. I took umbrage to it, but I take umbrage to a lot of things.”

Calhoun did add, however: "He's developed into, in my opinion, a terrific coach. I watched the way he coaches. His kids play hard, play great defense and play together. He's been getting, as you well know, tremendous, big-name players. I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and no disdain for him as a person."

Calipari addressed Calhoun’s “My Three Sons” reference earlier in the week, when he referred to the other three (younger) coaches in the Final Four as “my two sons, and my problem child.”

“I did tell him that I knew (“My Three Sons” star) Fred MacMurray, Mr. Calhoun,” Calipari said, “and you are no Fred MacMurray.”

Awkward!

Calipari was asked two questions at today's press conference that indirectly referenced his past, which includes his two prior Final Four apperances (with UMass and Memphis) being vacated later by the NCAA.

First, he was asked if he is the "2000 Jerry Tarkanian."


"I respect everything that Jerry did, his kids, how they played, all those things," Calipari said. "But no, I think I'm the 2011 John Calipari. I don't know what that means and I hate to talk in the third party. But I am who I am."

Later, someone asked him "how it feels to coach in your first Final Four?"

Calipari smiled and said, "I don't deal with that. We've been here three times. Those players played those games and did what they were supposed to. I'm so proud of what they've all accomplished. It's been fun. It's been a good experience, and this is going to be a good experience."

Not Here to Talk About the Past

Calhoun was reminded of his own checkered past, as well. He was asked about Nate Miles' recent interview with Slam magazine, in which Miles said UConn's athletics administration knew that the Yahoo story was coming out and were looking (particularly A.D. Jeff Hathaway) for a way to boot him out of school.

"I said my personal and private feelings would not be discussed, and are not going to be discussed," Calhoun said. "If anybody wants to drag up an experiene that happened two years ago, bring it back up, that's their choice. I'm going forward because I'm going forward with my life."

Here's what Jim Calhoun, Jeff Hathaway and UConn prez Philip Austin had to say about the NCAA's penalties on the UConn program:

Statement from President Philip E. Austin:

This is deeply disappointing to the UConn community. Let me be very clear, we will comply fully with the NCAA’s sanctions and work with great resolve to restore the luster to our men’s basketball program.

Statement from Director of Athletics Jeffrey A. Hathaway:

We have worked closely with the NCAA from the time we learned of the allegations.

When we submitted our response to the NCAA Committee on Infractions acknowledging violations in the men’s basketball program, we immediately self-imposed a series of penalties and corrective measures that are included as part of the NCAA Committee on Infractions report. We are disappointed that the Committee determined that additional penalties needed to be imposed.

We value the principles of the NCAA and fully recommit ourselves to running a program of impeccable integrity.

Statement from Head Basketball Coach Jim Calhoun:

I am very disappointed with the NCAA’s decision in this case. My lawyer and I are evaluating my options and will make a decision which way to proceed.

In the meantime, I will not make any further statements about the case as our program prepares for what I hope will be an exciting and successful postseason.

UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway will chair the 2011-12 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament selection committee. He'll begin in September, 2011, succeeding Ohio State's Gene Smith, who'll chair the committee this academic year.

Will Hathaway still be UConn's AD at the time, however. That's the question.

If Jim Calhoun is worried that the NCAA will come down hard on UConn, he’s hardly showing it. And it doesn’t appear to be simply a brave face he’s putting on. Calhoun seems to sincerely believe his program will come out of this without any crippling damage.

“I truly believe at the end, when it’s all said and done, the truth will win out,” he said at Tuesday's 25th Franciscan Sports Banquet, held at Southington's Aqua-Turf Club and his first public appearance since Friday‘s press conference. “I don’t go into this with great fear. There was an article written (by Yahoo ! Sports), the NCAA came in, looked at us for 15 months in every aspect of our program and made certain allegations. At the end of the day, I’m not telling you everything is going to be just fine and dandy, but … I think we had one of the better recruiting classes we’ve had in quite some time. People in our program our positive. A few mistakes were made, and we’ll go forward.”

He added: “There is nothing else to do in life, whether you fall off a bike and break a couple of ribs, you’ve got to get back on it. You’ve got to know who you are and what we’ve done. I know who I am, and I know what we have done. Do I know every single intimate detail? Obviously not. But I truly believe I know who I am …”

Numerous celebrities from the sports world were on hand on Tuesday, including Hamden’s George Grande, the former ESPN anchor and longtime baseball play-by-play man who received the Saint Francis Award. ESPN anchor Chris Berman, former UConn assistant and current CCSU head man Howie Dickenman and UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway were there, as well.

Oh, and this was interesting: also in the house was was Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore, the former UConn assistant.

There seems to be no ill will towards Moore, and no visible panic from Calhoun or Hathaway about the program’s future. Rather, Calhoun is upbeat about the future -- some of which has already arrived in Storrs.

Calhoun wouldn't comment on colleague Dave Solomon's report that UConn is set to hire Kevin Ollie as an assistant to replace Patrick Sellers, who recently resigned.

“We’re not discussing any personnel matters. Right now, I think the job was posted. We’ve got to hope over the next 10, 11 days, we’ll have an opportunity to name somebody as an assistant. That’s the first place we’d head. I think we’ll have to look at that director of basketball operations position a little bit different. They have more contact with the university. We have some very experienced and very good people in their own positions right now.”

“It’s procedural right now, and any comment by anybody could hurt the process, because what happens then, someone could feel it was an unfair search. That’s happened before.”

“Right now, no one has been offered the job, no one has been named … I think we’re going to do a good job of replacing Pat, who I love dearly, and then Beau’s position will be replaced second.”

UConn will hold a press conference Friday at 10 a.m. to announce an update on the NCAA investigation of its men's basketball program.

Materials related to the press conference subject matter will be available to the media in attendance at approximately 9:45 a.m. and will also be posted at www.UConnHuskies.com.

In attendance at the press conference will be Head Men’s Basketball Coach Jim Calhoun, Director of Athletics Jeffrey A. Hathaway and Rick Evrard, the University’s outside counsel for NCAA-related matters.

Jim Calhoun was asked today if he will have any voice in who his successor will be once he finally decides to call it a day -- thought to be a sticking point at one time in the negotiations.

"I've got 24 years of sweat-equity in UConn ... The world is changing. As the world continues to change, I would love to be able to bring what we consider to be UConn (people), and keep UConn going as what we know it. That's not going to be my decision.

"Would I like to have something to say? That's not my position, not my place. But certainly I would like something to say (about) who (will be) the next coach here. But I don't have the authority to do that, but I certainly would like to do that."

Hathaway indicated that he would certainly listen to Calhoun's suggestion, calling him "my primary advisor for anything about basketball", and seemed to hint that some of the former UConn assistants (Tom Moore, Steve Pikiell, etc.) would receive strong consideration.

But that's for another day, far in the future.

"I think it's important to note that this contract provides for Jim to be at the University of Connecticut the next nine years," Hathaway said. "I don't think he's going anywhere, and I'm glad for that.

"I think the last thing we should be talking about is the end of the line. In some ways, this is the beginning of a new line, a new round of years."

Jeff Hathaway insisted that the long duration of negotiating Jim Calhoun's new contract had nothing to do with his age (68 on Monday), his health issues or the current NCAA review of the program's alleged recruiting violations.

""None at all ... Jim is an all-in, 110-percent person. When he's not all-in, he's going to tell me, I'm not going to have to tell him. We all know of his passion. It was never part of the conversation."

Both Calhoun and Hathaway conceded that negative recruiting has almost certainly gone on by other schools, who have warned recruits about Calhoun's age, health, etc. But Calhoun doesn't believe the lack of a contract until now has poorly affected UConn's own recruiting.

"I'll be getting older -- I actually won't, but people will say I'll get much older; they couldn't say I'm getting much grumpier -- that will be used in recruiting. It's an aspect of life that we have to continue to deal with. We did have other things -- a season ... Jeff had responsibilities here as athletic director, and then on the men's basketball committee. An awful lot of things had to take place. If I thought it was so (impactful), we probably would have gotten together at some particular point to solve it. I don't think anything that might have come out of it is not going to be permanent. I'm incredibly happy with the five kids we have coming in -- much happier than you can probably realize."

Calhoun even labeled this year's recruiting class (Roscoe Smith, Shabazz Napier, Tyler Olander, Jeremy Lamb, Michael Bradley) the best the school has had in at least a decade.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Jim Calhoun's new contract is the provision that the coach would lose performance-based incentives and also donate $100,000 to the UConn Foundation General Scholarship Fund if the program fails to meet NCAA Academic Progress Report (APR) standards.

Currently, men's basketball teams must meet an APR score of 925 out of 1,000 over both the last-reported four-year rolling average and the most recently completed academic year. Failure to do so would result in loss of a scholarship (and, in Calhoun's case, loss of money).

UConn hasn't fallen short of APR standards since they were instituted six years ago, but it's a struggle -- particularly because the program has had so many players leave school early to turn pro.

Here's what Hathaway and Calhoun had to say about the provision, and about keeping up to APR standards.

HATHAWAY:
"All that underscores is the fact that we're committed to academics, it's the primary mission of the university and of the athletic department. We've paid a lot of attention to APR in the six years it's been in place. It's a point of emphasis for all of us."

(is such language common in other coach's contracts?)

"There's a lot of APR provisions in contracts across the country. A lot of people do it as incentives. We don't do it as incentives. We believe all our coaches understand the importance of academics, and we believe that they're going to deliver on the academics. We've never provided incentives for academic achievement."

CALHOUN:
"I had no problem having it in my contract. I just think it's a statement. When people say I want to serve my community, I try to serve my community. Now, I'm saying I'm very ... It doesn't mean any more or less to me now. It's tangible evidence."

He noted that if a player signs a pro contract, his academic obligations are lessened under APR guidlines.

"(APR) was something that I've been a spokesperson about. The fact you were penalizing us for kids going out and making $2, 3 million per year. It's one of the few places in our society where you're penalizing kids for not finishing up the final three, four courses, when they can more than afford to come back and get their degree."

Calhoun pointed out that Scott Burrell will be graduating on Sunday, as will Jerome Dyson. Gavin Edwards is two courses away, the coach said, and Stanley Robinson is due to come back this summer and finish things up.

"We've had more kids go early, Calhoun continued. "You can understand the ramifications of that. We've never lost a scholarship because of that, but we've had to do an awful lot of work because many of these kids leave, teams have to try them out. It's been very difficult to manage.

"It's not me. It's me, Jeff, everybody that's involved here at UConn, trying to make sure this works and that (players) are making normal progress towards a degree ... and eventually these kids graduate."

Calhoun also noted that Kemba Walker will be staying on campus all summer to work on both basketball and his academics so that he can graduate in three years.

"It's a Herculean task, but if anybody can it's Kemba, because of his work ethic."

UConn will hold a press conference tomorrow at 10:45 a.m. to announce a new contract for Jim Calhoun. Both Calhoun and athletic director Jeff Hathaway will be in attendance.

Tomorrow night's game could be a dogfight -- literally -- involving a pair of teams nicknamed the Huskies.

Northeastern's Huskies are no pushover. They went 20-12 this season, 14-4 in a competitive Colonial Athletic Association. They played four teams that are in this year's NCAA tournament, beating two of them (Utah State and CAA champion Old Dominion). And they're a senior-led team, four of whom played UConn tough two years ago in a 69-60 loss at Gampel, including Matt Janning, who poured in 29 points that night.

"We have our work cut out for us," said Jim Calhoun. "They're good. They're capable of beating us. If we give a C, C-plus game, they'll beat us."

Or, to put it another way: "Hypothetically, if we were in the (NCAA) tournament and we were a two-seed, we'd be playing a Northeastern-type team," Calhoun said.

Will the threat of suffering an ignominious home defeat to the team Calhoun began his coaching career with be enough to motivate a Husky team that has looked alarmingly lethargic in recent weeks?

"We have no choice, at this point," said sophomore point guard Kemba Walker. "What's happened was in the past, we've got to look at the future right now. Our future is Northeastern and the NIT, so we've got to make the best of it and play basketball."

But when asked what benefit UConn can get from playing in the NIT, Walker took a long pause, before finally saying: "I don't know. It's games, you've got to take advantage of it. Some teams already (ended) their season. We're fortunate to make the NIT. Things happen for a reason, I guess."

***Expect some of the younger kids to get more run tomorrow night. Donnell Beverly is out with a deep bone bruise in his right knee, so frosh Darius Smith -- who Calhoun said has looked good for the past 1 1/2 weeks -- will be the backup point guard.

If UConn wins tomorrow, it will play the winner of Wednesday night's Virginia Tech-Quinnipiac first-round game. If the Bobcats are able to pull off the upset down in Blacksburg, Va., Calhoun would go against his former longtime assistant, Tom Moore – at a site to be determined.

"We will play anyplace you want us to – East Catholic High School, anyplace, just for both of us to be living in the second round," he said.

***Now, to the juicy stuff. Calhoun was asked about his recent announcement that he has agreed in principle to a new four-year contract extension – something he more or less already announced back around Christmas.

"It's gone back-and-forth 1,000 times. A lot of issues going on in-state, with tuitions and all that. And Jeff (Hathaway), in the past 1 ½ months, roughly … when I said that, I wasn't trying to be a wise-ass … I haven't talked to him …The reason we announced something we already knew is that we were getting killed on the recruiting trails. So nothing drastic has changed, I'm just waiting to get a copy back of the signed contract."

When asked how "cut-throat" other coaches have been on the recruiting trail, Calhoun made a thinly-veiled reference to John Calipari.

"There's a certain coach out there who's big-time now who said Louie Carnesecca was dying of cancer. That's a rather tough one. His name is as big as anyone right now (that was) when he was a graduate assistant someplace. Is it cut-throat? Yes, but it's a cut-throat business.

"Do I like it? No. Do we do it? I hope that no one on our staff has ever done that. We might tell you the advantages of running, we might tell you the advantage of winning, we might tell you the advantage of going to a program, by inference, they may have one (player in the NBA) and we have 14. Sure. We'll say, 'check the other schools that you're involved with,' and they may have two players in the NBA."

Calhoun ended, with a smile: "I've always tried to control the world, and I never have. But my quest will never end."

***Did the Huskies watch the rest of the Big East tournament, or the NCAA Selection Show? Nope, according to Gavin Edwards, Jerome Dyson and Walker.

"I've been playing video games since I've been back," said Dyson. I went out and bought a couple of new ones."

'Call of Duty' and 'Super Mario Wii,' to be exact.

***Northeastern's roster spans the glove – Australia, Cape Verde, Bulgaria, France, Canada – but there is a bit of local flavor. Southbury's Brian McDonald, a Pomperaug High graduate, is a senior walk-on for NU.

***The way Calhoun sees it, UConn would definitely have been in the Big Dance had it won 19 games.

"But we needed to get those 19 wins, we didn't get them, so we're in another tournament that, this year, probably has more significance because there's more good teams."

George Blaney and Jeff Hathaway met with the media for about 10 minutes this evening to address the last 24 hours. Not a whole lot new was learned: Calhoun's medical condition is still undisclosed, and there is no timetable for his return.

"I have nothing to share, really," said Blaney, regarding Calhoun's health situation. "(It's) exactly what the doctor said. The doctor told him to take time off. (Calhoun) said, 'he finally told me I needed to do this … I'm listening for once.' It's not heart, it's not cancer."

Added Hathaway: "There's only one timetable here, and that is when Dr. Schulman talks with Jim and tells him that it's OK to go back. That is our primary concern, that's Coach Calhoun's primary concern. He has tremendous trust in Peter Schulman as a physician. When he and Dr. Schulman feel they're at the point of a complete recovery, he'll come back. Until then, George will coach the team, and we'll put no artificial deadlines on anything."

Hathaway did add that he has no reason to think that Calhoun's ailment is career-ending.

Blaney said Calhoun called him yesterday and told him he was going to take practice off, and probably the St. John's game, as well. After Calhoun was told by Dr. Schulman to take time off, he called Blaney back.

Blaney first broke the news to Jerome Dyson, Kemba Walker, Gavin Edwards and Stanley Robinson, and asked them to help explain the situation with the younger guys, "because they'd been through it before, they knew the program the best. We went out and practiced, and it was fine."

Blaney said of the players' reaction: "I think some of them were very surprised, but they were very good, as I would expect they would be. It's his team, he has shown them how to deal with adversity. I think that's what each kid will pick up right away. They'll learn how to deal with something that's hard. That's one of the lessons he teaches as well as anyone in the country."

And how did Calhoun sound?

"He was his usual cantankerous self. Don't print that, please."

Sorry, George.

Hathaway spoke to Calhoun today, as well.

"His status is same as any other coach who wants to be coaching his or her team, but understands that his health is the most important thing right now," said the AD.

Both Hathaway and Blaney said they saw no signs of any medical situation with Calhoun coming. Hathaway wouldn't elaborate on where things stand with a potential contract extension with Calhoun.

"People that cover this beat know, when we have contracts that are signed, we release them," he said.

Director of basketball operations Beau Archibald has been bumped up as an assistant for the time being.

The press conference was held where the media usually does its pregame dining.

"I understand that this is the room for the food," Blaney said at the start. "That's why everybody showed up. I'll buy cheeseburgers for you if you're really hungry."

UConn announced today that Jim Calhoun will take a medical leave of absence from his head coach position, effective immediately.

The following is a statement from University of Connecticut Health Center physician Peter Schulman, M.D., Jim Calhoun’s primary care physician:

“It is my recommendation that Coach Calhoun take a medical leave from his coaching position to address some temporary medical issues, none of which involve any previous medical conditions that he has dealt with.”

The following is a statement from UConn Director of Athletics Jeffrey A. Hathaway:

“Our primary concern is Coach Calhoun’s health and his complete recovery. We will do everything possible to support Coach during this time. Jim and I both know that the men’s basketball program is in very capable hands under the leadership of Associate Head Coach George Blaney.”

Calhoun was at practice on Monday but isn't currently with the team for its 4 p.m. practice today. Blaney dealt with the media today at 12:30 p.m.

UConn spokesman Kyle Muncy said that, at this time, he doesn't anticipate discussing a timeline for Calhoun's potential return.