The news that Jim Calhoun was interested in filling the vacancy as Boston College's men's basketball coach created when the school fired Steve Donahue caught my attention on Friday but ultimately I hope it does not work out.
Yes, his resume is impressive. Calhoun won three National Championships in his long tenure as the University of Connecticut's coach and won 866 total games including his time as head coach at Northeastern University. Calhoun was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
Calhoun is also attractive to BC for his ties to the Greater Boston area. The Braintree native played at American International College in Springfield before coaching high school at Westport and Dedham before moving on to Northeastern.
So then, why not Calhoun?
First off, he is 71-years-old and while my goal is not to upset the AARP, I'm not sure Calhoun has the energy to rebuild BC's program. Building a successful program in the ACC - a conference headlined by basketball powers North Carolina, Duke, Syracuse, and Louisville (which joins the ACC next season) - is going to take time and unless Calhoun is ready to commit five or six years of his life to that cause, while knowing it may not work out, then he's not the man for the job. Keep in mind that health issues were a concern for him throughout the end of his time at UConn and a broken hip suffered in a bicycle accident in 2012 led to his retirement.
Another reason against Calhoun is his past criticism of Boston College. When BC left the Big East for the ACC, Calhoun was asked if he would continue the rivalry between the two schools.
His reply was "We won't play BC after they leave here. I have no desire to play Boston College."
I know people reserve the right to change their mind but an aging coach with a history of being anti-BC is not who athletic director Brad Bates should be chasing after.
The best candidate for the job already resides in the Greater Boston area. This coach knows how to win at a school that values academics, has won 20+ games for five years in a row, and is coming off consecutive seasons of winning a game in the NCAA Tournament.
Yes, Tommy Amaker is the man BC should be chasing to rebuild their program into an ACC contender.
Amaker has done an amazing job of making Harvard into a respected program but the ceiling for growth in Cambridge is low and Amaker has already reached that level. Boston College would offer him a chance to go beyond the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. If Amaker could build Harvard into an Ivy League powerhouse capable of winning a game in March, he could turn around the BC program and make them relevant in the ACC and a regular tournament participant.
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My Final Four? Florida, Iowa State, Creighton, and Louisville with Florida over Louisville in the championship game.
Creighton got crushed by Baylor last night and with Georges Niang out for the year with a fractured foot it does not look good for Iowa State, although they did reach the Sweet 16.
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