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Calhoun sure doesn’t sound like a guy nearing retirement

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Questions regarding Jim Calhoun’s immediate coaching future become more irrelevant by the day.

Not only is Connecticut’s coach wrapping up a hectic six weeks after winning his third national title, he’s relishing every bit of it. Besides, he hasn’t had much time to consider retirement.

“What will I feel like when I step on the court next year? I don’t know that right now. All I know is, right now, I’m in a dream world,” he said Wednesday.

Since the April 4 win over Butler, Calhoun’s attended parades, dinners, award ceremonies and even chatted with President Obama. He’s been at home just four of the past 26 days and plans on doing more work next week before heading to the beach for a June vacation.

And then? Maybe he’ll contemplate the future. Maybe.

“I’ll have a day in the office tomorrow and then it’s to the Jimmy V where I get to introduce (North Carolina coach) Roy Williams on Friday, Dick Vitale’s cookout on Saturday, and Sunday and Monday are the Big East meetings,” Calhoun said quickly, as if he’d recited it more than a few times. “The end of this month I’m pretty good. Then I can do more reflection.”

Reflection should be easy. Sounds like he’s already formulating a plan.

Former UConn player Kevin Ollie spent this season learning the ropes as part of Calhoun’s staff. Glen Miller spent time away, came back and is now officially an assistant again. Calhoun also expects another former player to join the staff soon, putting his mind at ease about what his program will be like when he does retire. From an extensive story by Andy Katz:

“Every day, it gets much stronger,” Calhoun said about the succession plan. “With Susan [Herbst, school president] coming aboard, I feel great about the future. We’ve been the leader of the Big East in practice facilities, the first team in the league to charter, and I want to make sure we get back to that. We are, winwise, but I want to make sure that we do a lot of things to continue to win. I’ll feel comfortable. We’ve got a lot of good players in the program coming back.

“There aren’t too many days when I don’t have my mind on the program, asking George about the field in the Atlantis tournament [in November], should we play Kentucky in Madison Square Garden in the Big East-SEC again,” Calhoun said of a possible matchup. “I know we’ll have a good basketball team next year. The only team that has more coming back is Syracuse in the Big East. See? I have thought about this.”


But only a little bit. That sounds like a man who plans on sticking around for the foreseeable future.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.