Despite a huge cloud over the campus and new NCAA rules due to poor academic performance that'll prevent the school from participating in the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, today is the end of an era in college hoops. Jim Calhoun, who coached the University of Connecticut to 3 NCAA titles in 1999, 2004 & 2011, winning 873 games in a 40 year career that started at Northeastern and the last 26 years in Storrs, has announced his retirement.

Calhoun calls it a career in part not just because of the NCAA probe into alleged recruiting violations & the new NCAA rules, but he hasn't exactly been in the best of health either. He missed 8 games last season due to a painful spinal condition. He has also been a three-time cancer survivor, plus he was involved in a bicycle accident last month in which he fractured his hip and came to work on the UCONN campus on crutches. Calhoun is 70 years old.

Replacing Jim this season won't be associate head coach George Blaney, who subbed for Calhoun in several games including one vs. DePaul this past season, but a onetime former Bulls' guard that played under him. He is Kevin Ollie, who was a 2-time co-captain as a UCONN player that guided the Huskies to 2 Big East titles in 1993-94 & 1994-95, with those teams going to the Sweet 16 & Elite 8 respectively in the NCAA Tournament those years.

Ollie played for 13 NBA seasons with the Bulls among 11 different teams he played for in his career, which ended in 2009-10 with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ollie had served as one of Calhoun's assistant coaches the last 2 seasons and signed a one year deal to succeed Calhoun this upcoming college basketball season.

How in the world did Kevin Ollie play 13 years in the NBA?

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How the hell should I know? That's according to Kevin's bio.

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2018
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10 More Wins

Here's Kevin Ollie's bio, courtesy of UCONNhuskies.com:

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-ba ... vin00.html