UConn's Jim Calhoun on Sacrifice and Cheap Loans

No cheap loans from Calhoun

If his ego were cheap loans, everyone would be in the money.

The University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun knows what he’s doing on the sidelines of Huskies basketball. He knows how to get the most out of his players. But clearly, Jim doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. That’s what the New York Times’ “Talking Business” columnist Joe Nocera shows us. He was watching ESPN like thousands of other sports fans and heard the veteran coach melt down over a simple question. Apparently sanity loans cheap, and Calhoun didn’t get much in return for his:

“Coach, considering that you are the state’s highest-paid employee, and there is a $2 billion budget deficit, do you think…”

So began a question by reporter Ken Krayeske. But before he could finish, Calhoun cut him off.

“Not a dime back,” the UConn coach snapped.

Krayeske: “$1.5 million is enough?”

Calhoun: “I make a lot more than that. What’s the take tonight?” Krayeske didn’t know, so Calhoun told him to “shut up.”

Then Calhoun melted down

Calhoun claims that the UConn basketball team made $12 million in profit for the university, and that that justified his salary. Not that the players who aren’t allowed to hold jobs have anything to do with it… of course not…

Jim Calhoun, wake up. Like so many other states in this country, Connecticut is facing a huge deficit and state employees are being laid off. Nocera puts it brilliantly: Calhoun’s salary is being paid by a state university that will be making lots of cutbacks. He is intelligent enough to understand that many people are suffering under the down economy. His lack of compassion of self-sacrifice is stupefying. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "UConn's Jim Calhoun on Sacrifice and Cheap Loans"