Jim Calhoun Botches Exit Strategy

You rant at a press conference that you're worth the millions as the highest-paid employee in a bankrupt state, cold to the fact that everyone around you is in a panic about losing a job or sending a kid to college. The governor says you've embarrassed yourself, and you look so foolish that you become an instant YouTube cult figure.

You're accused of dirty recruiting, breaking NCAA rules, making you the star of a week-long news cycle. You're in your late 60s, and stress and health add up so that you're too sick and dehydrated, temporarily, to coach your team.

The gods gave Jim Calhoun a glorious exit opportunity when Connecticut reached the Final Four. With his name crashing down around him, he could have left to cheers.

Instead, he announced Thursday that he plans to come back next season.

"In many ways," Calhoun said in a statement, "the journey of this past season has made me realize how much I love coaching this game, how much I love my kids and how much I enjoy being at Connecticut."

It's important to know when to leave. In one Seinfeld episode, George Costanza made habit of leaving the second he told a joke that people laughed at.

Leave on a good note. But it was a particularly grand opportunity for Calhoun, whose name is now turning to mush. Next season, he and his team likely will be under the cloud of NCAA investigation into his recruiting of former player Nate Miles. Calhoun has already admitted that he might have made mistakes but suggested that the NCAA rulebook has so many rules that it's hard to keep up.

The ignorance defense from a coach who's about to turn 67.

The thing is, I knew Calhoun wouldn't go. He is just tough and ornery enough that all the issues could add up not to force him out, but instead to give him something to fight against.

You like to leave on your own terms and he certainly didn't deserve to be fired, not until more evidence comes in, anyway. But this was his best chance at a narrow escape, and a glorious one at that. But if Calhoun is staying to be obstinate, then someone should have advised him that it's not going to end well. That's assuming he would have listened.

In some ways, you respect a guy who wants to stand and fight, rather than slink off. But as long as he's coaching, he stays in the spotlight, and so do all of his players, his school, his team's fans. While in the spotlight, Calhoun's reputation is going to be torn down, and he takes a lot of people down with him.

The timing is the most amazing thing. How often do we see a boxer or a Favre announce retirement immediately after a tough competition? They have worked so hard, and then are just too emotional after losing a fight to imagine doing it all again. When the emotion wears off, the itch comes back.

Calhoun? He said in Detroit during the Final Four a few days ago that he was going to give things a lot more reflection than usual.

Five days after UConn lost, he was done with that, and ready for another fight.

So admire that resolve. It's exactly what has made him a successful coach all these years, with two national titles.

But when it's time to go, it's time to go.

Calhoun has talked about a conversation he had with legendary coach Dean Smith about how you know when it's time. Smith had told him not to make a decision without time away for perspective. North Carolina coach Roy Williams, the day before he won the national championship, said he had had a similar talk with Smith, his mentor, about an exit strategy. Smith told him not to let off-court demands beat him.

"That part of it, I think, ran Coach Smith out of it," Williams said. "He tried to tell me not to let it run me out."

So it's a tough decision, for sure. But Calhoun's future is going to involve a fight to prove he isn't a cheat. Yahoo! Sports first reported that agent Josh Nochimson, a former UConn student manager who the NCAA considers a representative of UConn athletic interests, provided Miles with lodging, transportation meals and representation.

Under NCAA rules, Nochimson was prohibited from even having contact with Miles, but documents showed pages of phone and text messages between the two.

How much did Calhoun know and endorse? Those are the question s he's going to leave with.

He could have left with glory. At best, the gods give you a one-time offer.