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Book Review: Shock the World – UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era [from Soxanddawgs.com]
http://www.soxanddawgs.com/huskies/...orld-uconn-basketball-in-the-calhoun-era.html
Written by Steve onSunday, 03 March 2013 16:17.
Before 1986, UConn basketball was barely a blip on anyone’s radar. Then John Toner, the Athletic Director at UConn at the time, was able to convince Northeastern head coach Jim Calhoun, that the tiny land grant institution in Storrs CT was a place where he could build a program and a national basketball power and that all changed.
Peter F. Burns, Jr., a UConn Alum, does a wonderful job in chronicling the years of basketball prominence in Storrs in his new book, “Shock the World, UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era.”
Burns, who interviewed many former players, assistant coaches and opponents, pulls no punches in a book the gives you not only a great behind the scenes look at how a program was built but at the ups and downs it went through to get there.
Nearly every aspect of Calhoun’s stranglehold on Storrs is meticulously written about from his introductory press conference to his first practice at the old Guyer Gym and games at the Greer Field House to the 1988 NIT Championship.
He writes about and talks to such key players as Tate George, Greg Economu and former assistant coach Glenn Miller about the first days of building a program from scratch and the intense practices Calhoun instituted.
Burns goes on to chronicle how Calhoun got the very players he needed to come to Eastern Connecticut, the players that became the faces of the foundation. Scott Burrell, Chris Smith and John Gwynn and how they needed how to learn to win.
There are plenty of stories about recruiting the players that brought greatness to Storrs and how that initial success of the ’88 NIT and then the magical run in 1990 keep spawning the flow of even better players from all over the world to UConn. That initial success paved the way to UConn for great players like Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen, Doron Scheffer, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Khalid El Amin, Emeka Okafor and Kemba Walker.
The stories are at times funny and heartwarming. At times they tell the cold hard truth but they always convey the love and respect these young men grew to have for Calhoun.
To continue reading, please click on the continue reading button below if you're on the home page.
Sure there are players who left over issues, those who battled the coach over playing time, poor grades, lack of effort and him just being too demanding. But the one’s who stayed ended up getting something out their experience and in nearly every case they got way more than they expected too.
Some expected to and did get rich and famous and had long NBA careers like current head coach Kevin Ollie, Allen and Butler. But those players along with many others also got friends and brothers for life in their teammates and with players who came before or after them. They also got a mentor, life coach and father figure in a coach so demanding and family and team oriented that it pushes each and every one of them to this day.
Calhoun coached at UConn through 2012 when he decided to walk away after battling through several medical issues from cancer to heart problems to a bicycle accident that led to a broken hip. It wasn’t the medical problems though that led to retirement for Calhoun it was most likely the fact that the 2012-13 season would have no meaning as the Huskies were banned from all post season play. The ban was a result poor academic performance by his players over a four-year period.
That wasn’t the only blemish on the University in the Calhoun Era, in 2011 the team was cited by the NCAA for failing to create an atmosphere of compliance and he was suspended for the first three Big East games. They suffered scholarship reductions, recruiting restrictions and had to disassociate themselves from a booster because of his contact with then-recruit Nate Miles.
Years earlier, UConn also had been stripped of their 1996 NCAA Tournament victories after it was determined that Rickey Moore and Kirk King receiving improper benefits.
But when you look at Calhoun’s 26-year run in sleepy Storrs you see a Hall of Fame coach with 866 career victories and another 51 in the NCAA Tournament. A man who won 3 National Championships and put 26 former Huskies into the NBA, 18 times his teams won 20 or more games, and 8 of those times they won 30 or more. He also is the first coach in NCAA history to have 240 or more wins at two different Division I institutions.
The book does a great job also covering the four Final Fours and three National Championships Calhoun’s teams won at UConn and Burn’s mentions quite possibly nearly every player to ever wear a Husky uniform under Calhoun.
Despite any shortcoming’s the program suffered over the years, the good clearly outweighs the bad. You’d be hard pressed to find a UConn fan, alum or administrator who would trade the last quarter century for one produced by any other program.
If you are a UConn basketball fan of any age, who lived through all or part of the Calhoun Era this book by Burns is for you. It is highly recommended.
Here are some upcoming book signings in Connecticut. Books will be available for $25 at the event.
Tuesday March 12, 2013 -- Suffield's Kent Memorial Library at 7.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 – Stratford Public Library at 7.
Thursday, March 14, 2013 – North Haven Public Library at 7.
Saturday, March 16, 2013 – Ashford’s Babcock Library, 1-2:00
Tuesday March 26, 2013 – Bethany's Clark Memorial Library
For more information, email shocktheworldbook@gmail.com
For details about the book, see http://www.upne.com/1555537777.html
To order the book on Amazon, see http://www.amazon.com/Shock-World-U...id=1362343216&sr=8-1&keywords=shock+the+world
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
http://www.soxanddawgs.com/huskies/...orld-uconn-basketball-in-the-calhoun-era.html
Written by Steve onSunday, 03 March 2013 16:17.
Before 1986, UConn basketball was barely a blip on anyone’s radar. Then John Toner, the Athletic Director at UConn at the time, was able to convince Northeastern head coach Jim Calhoun, that the tiny land grant institution in Storrs CT was a place where he could build a program and a national basketball power and that all changed.
Burns, who interviewed many former players, assistant coaches and opponents, pulls no punches in a book the gives you not only a great behind the scenes look at how a program was built but at the ups and downs it went through to get there.
Nearly every aspect of Calhoun’s stranglehold on Storrs is meticulously written about from his introductory press conference to his first practice at the old Guyer Gym and games at the Greer Field House to the 1988 NIT Championship.
He writes about and talks to such key players as Tate George, Greg Economu and former assistant coach Glenn Miller about the first days of building a program from scratch and the intense practices Calhoun instituted.
Burns goes on to chronicle how Calhoun got the very players he needed to come to Eastern Connecticut, the players that became the faces of the foundation. Scott Burrell, Chris Smith and John Gwynn and how they needed how to learn to win.
There are plenty of stories about recruiting the players that brought greatness to Storrs and how that initial success of the ’88 NIT and then the magical run in 1990 keep spawning the flow of even better players from all over the world to UConn. That initial success paved the way to UConn for great players like Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen, Doron Scheffer, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Khalid El Amin, Emeka Okafor and Kemba Walker.
The stories are at times funny and heartwarming. At times they tell the cold hard truth but they always convey the love and respect these young men grew to have for Calhoun.
To continue reading, please click on the continue reading button below if you're on the home page.
Sure there are players who left over issues, those who battled the coach over playing time, poor grades, lack of effort and him just being too demanding. But the one’s who stayed ended up getting something out their experience and in nearly every case they got way more than they expected too.
Some expected to and did get rich and famous and had long NBA careers like current head coach Kevin Ollie, Allen and Butler. But those players along with many others also got friends and brothers for life in their teammates and with players who came before or after them. They also got a mentor, life coach and father figure in a coach so demanding and family and team oriented that it pushes each and every one of them to this day.
Calhoun coached at UConn through 2012 when he decided to walk away after battling through several medical issues from cancer to heart problems to a bicycle accident that led to a broken hip. It wasn’t the medical problems though that led to retirement for Calhoun it was most likely the fact that the 2012-13 season would have no meaning as the Huskies were banned from all post season play. The ban was a result poor academic performance by his players over a four-year period.
That wasn’t the only blemish on the University in the Calhoun Era, in 2011 the team was cited by the NCAA for failing to create an atmosphere of compliance and he was suspended for the first three Big East games. They suffered scholarship reductions, recruiting restrictions and had to disassociate themselves from a booster because of his contact with then-recruit Nate Miles.
Years earlier, UConn also had been stripped of their 1996 NCAA Tournament victories after it was determined that Rickey Moore and Kirk King receiving improper benefits.
But when you look at Calhoun’s 26-year run in sleepy Storrs you see a Hall of Fame coach with 866 career victories and another 51 in the NCAA Tournament. A man who won 3 National Championships and put 26 former Huskies into the NBA, 18 times his teams won 20 or more games, and 8 of those times they won 30 or more. He also is the first coach in NCAA history to have 240 or more wins at two different Division I institutions.
The book does a great job also covering the four Final Fours and three National Championships Calhoun’s teams won at UConn and Burn’s mentions quite possibly nearly every player to ever wear a Husky uniform under Calhoun.
Despite any shortcoming’s the program suffered over the years, the good clearly outweighs the bad. You’d be hard pressed to find a UConn fan, alum or administrator who would trade the last quarter century for one produced by any other program.
If you are a UConn basketball fan of any age, who lived through all or part of the Calhoun Era this book by Burns is for you. It is highly recommended.
Here are some upcoming book signings in Connecticut. Books will be available for $25 at the event.
Tuesday March 12, 2013 -- Suffield's Kent Memorial Library at 7.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 – Stratford Public Library at 7.
Thursday, March 14, 2013 – North Haven Public Library at 7.
Saturday, March 16, 2013 – Ashford’s Babcock Library, 1-2:00
Tuesday March 26, 2013 – Bethany's Clark Memorial Library
For more information, email shocktheworldbook@gmail.com
For details about the book, see http://www.upne.com/1555537777.html
To order the book on Amazon, see http://www.amazon.com/Shock-World-U...id=1362343216&sr=8-1&keywords=shock+the+world
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
