Jim Calhoun Head Coach Northeastern University

Jim Calhoun, the architect of Northeastern basketball's rise to prominence during

the last decade, returns for his thirteenth season as head coach of the Huskies.

With Calho~n's knowledge, patience and considerable coaching ability, Northeastern

has followed a meteoric path from a solid Division II program to a Division I power

that, has on more than one occasion, basked in the national spotlight and caused the

college basketball world to take a good look at the Hounds of Boston.

The culmination of that glorious rise came in the form of ECAC North Atlantic

championships in 3 of the last 4 years and resounding NCAA tournament upsets in all three.

During the 1983-84 season, Northeastern went undefeated in the NAC in both league and tournament play, becoming the only team in the nation to accomplish that feat.

The Huskies finished with a 27-5 overall record , the finest ever in the school's history. The season came to a heart breaking conclusion at the Meadowlands when the valiant Huskies were defeated by a Virginia Commonwealth Hail Mary buzzer beater in

the NCAA Regionals. In a previous NCAA game they had defeated Long Island University.

The welfare of the players is the primary concern of Calhoun-coached teams, which is the reason his X and 0 tactics are so successful. Always a hustling, exciting bunch on the court, Northeastern teams are invariably close-knit off the court. Calhoun takes pride in this, and the effects can be seen in the fiber and character of his teams.

Strategically, he is an exceptional mentor who relies heavily on the output of his staff and an all-out effort from his players. He is not one to take victory or defeat lightly and never understimates his opponents. He is a screamer, a nervous on­ looker during games, and a taskmaster who won't settle for half-baked efforts. If a player misses an assignment or gets caught loafing, you might as well look for a spot on the bench.

Which is not to say that Calhoun is unfair. Everyone gets a fair shake in the

Husky system, and the coach instills great confide nc e in his students.

- mo r e - of Allr~which produces~the agg r e ssive, discipline d game plan that Northeastern

opponents can expect. Tenacious rebounding, unbridle d speed and a lightning-quick

transitional game are what Calhoun and company ultimately strive for - and usually

acheive.

If it's records that impress, let's turn to those. Calhoun is 202-123 in his

Northeastern career, with a glittering record of 106 up and 41 over the last five seasons.

In those same five years, he has led Northeastern to a 36-8 mark against conference foes

and a 55-14 slate in head-to-head competition against New England opponents.

Calhoun has fortified the Husky schedule in a matter of a few short years. Many of the weaker teams that used to be on the Northeastern schedule are now gone in favor of national powers such as North Carolina State, Fresno State, Purdue and Ohio State.

The scheduling of stronger opponents may not do much for your win/ loss record, but it certainly does strengthen your t e am.

Calhoun is a 1967 graduate of Springfield's American International College, where he lettered in basketball from 1963-66 and finished as the Yellow Jackets fourth all- time leading scorer. He serve d as c aptain o f the 1965-66 team and carried AIC all the way to the Division II NCAA playoffs. As a junior, he earned All-New England and Little

All-America honors.

Following graduation, Calhoun was a n assist a nt caoch f or t h e Yellow Jackets from

1967-69 . A stint at Westport (MA) High School f o l lowe d t h e AIC job and pre c e de d his head coaching position at Dedham High, where he first showe d signs of his ability to turn a program around.

De dham won only 1 3 games in t wo years before Calho un a rrive d, but h e took the team to an 18-1 record and a s e mi final berth in the Clas s A Schoolboy tournament in just one year.

Calhoun a tte nded Braintree High School, where he earned letter s in foo t ball, b ask e t - ball and baseball, captaini ng the 1959- 60 basket ball team a nd mak ing the Bay State All-

St a r t e am t hat same year.

His first season at Northeastern was in 1972-73. Under Calhoun ' s gu idance, t h e

- more- Huskies posted a 19-7 record during that campaign, featuring wins over Harvard,

South Dakota and Catholic University as well as a number-three rank in New England.

An avid long-distance runner who hates to miss a workout, Calhoun has registered exceptional times in running a handful of Boston and New York Marathons.

Calhoun and his wife, the former Patricia McDevitt, make their home in Dedham with sons James, 16, 'and Jeffrey, 11.