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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 4:34 p.m., Saturday, April 4, 2009

Final Four: Connecticut's Jim Calhoun to contemplate future

Associated Press

DETROIT — Jim Calhoun says he will think about getting out of coaching because of "some things thrown around for the past couple of weeks" that have disappointed him.

Connecticut's Hall of Fame coach was testy at times during his news conference tonight, following an 82-73 loss to Michigan State in the Final Four.

The 66-year-old Calhoun said he doesn't plan on leaving the game, but added he will give his future a lot of thought because of non-coaching matters.

"Those kind of things, that's why Dean Smith told me at 67 he got out," Calhoun recalled, referring to North Carolina's retired Hall of Fame coach. "It wasn't basketball. It was the other things.

"I love the kids, love the game. I don't plan to go anyplace. But I'm going to give a lot of reflection, maybe more reflection than normal, because of that."

Yahoo! Sports recently reported former Connecticut recruit Nate Miles was given lodging, transportation, meals and representation by sports agent Josh Nochimson, and that a UConn assistant coach knew about the relationship between the player and the agent.

The story cited interviews and documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws, and other sources.

Calhoun said the NCAA has asked him not to speak about the facts of the case and when he said he had a "gag order," he was reprimanded.

"I probably shouldn't be expressing it, but that's just who I am," Calhoun said, answering why he would think about leaving despite his love of the game and his players. "I couldn't be more disappointed in people who just jump on and make two people all of a sudden become the expert on who Jim Calhoun is.

"That's incredibly disappointing to me. And it would be to you, too, by the way."

Calhoun has acknowledged that he or his staff may have made mistakes in recruiting Miles.

He recently said it's sometimes hard to determine what is or is not permissible under the NCAA's recruiting guidelines.

"Do I know if any has been made? No, I'm not making judgment one way or the other," Calhoun said last week. "I said could there have been a mistake made.

"I have done this for 37 years," he added. "I truly believe that everything I have tried to do, I have done with a good, clean conscience and if we made a mistake, we'll find out about it. If we didn't, we will also find out about that."

Nochimson, a former student manager at Connecticut, was considered a representative of UConn's athletic interests by the NCAA and was prohibited from having contact with Miles or giving him anything of value, Yahoo reported. Documents obtained by the Web site showed pages and pages of phone and text message correspondence between Nochimson and Miles.

The player was expelled from UConn in October without playing a game for the Huskies after he was charged with violating a restraining order in a case involving a woman who claimed he assaulted her. He played this season for the College of Southern Idaho.