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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Reports say Calhoun will retire today

Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun took four teams to the Final Four and won three national championships. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun is retiring and plans to announce his decision on today, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press.

Assistant coach Kevin Ollie was expected to replace Calhoun, the person said.

WVIT-TV in Hartford first reported the expected announcement.

Calhoun led the UConn program from obscurity to three national championships, but has struggled recently with health issues, including a fractured hip last month that has forced him to come to work on crutches.

The 70-year-old Calhoun won 873 games in 40 years as a head coach, first at Northeastern and the last 26 years at UConn, and put four teams in the Final Four, winning national titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011.

Calhoun, who was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, is a three-time cancer survivor and missed eight games last season while suffering from a painful spinal condition. He returned just four days after having back surgery to coach the Huskies in their regular-season finale and the postseason.

UConn finished the year 20-14, losing to Iowa State in the first-round of the NCAA tournament. The Huskies are expected to be ineligible for next year’s NCAA and Big East tournaments because of poor academic performance.

In addition to his medical leave, he served a three-game suspension at the start of the Big East season last winter for failing to maintain an atmosphere of compliance in his program, a issued that dated back to recruiting violations in 2008.

Irish move to ACC in all sports but football

College: Just when it seemed the Big East had plugged all its holes, Notre Dame has created another.

The Fighting Irish will move to the Atlantic Coast Conference with a similar arrangement to the one they had with the Big East: all sports except football.

Notre Dame becomes the fourth school to leave the Big East in the last year. Pittsburgh and Syracuse are set to depart for the ACC in 2013 and West Virginia jumped to the Big 12 this year.

The Big East is set to become a 12-team, four-time zone football conference, starting next season with the addition of six schools, including Boise State and San Diego State as football-only members.

Memphis, Houston, Central Florida and SMU are set to join for all sports. Temple joined this year on short notice to replace West Virginia.

St. John’s, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, DePaul, Seton Hall and Providence compete in the Big East but not in football.

Big East bylaws require Notre Dame to pay a $5 million withdrawal fee and give the conference 27 months’ notice before leaving.

Notre Dame will play five football games against ACC opponents each season.

Bungling Storm lose behind 24 turnovers

Miscellany: Katie Douglas scored 16 points and the Indiana Fever forced a franchise-record 28 turnovers in a 72-48 victory over the Seattle Storm at Indianapolis.

Seattle played without its starting backcourt. Point guard Sue Bird rested and Tanisha Wright did not play because of a groin strain.

IndyCar driver crashes: IndyCar championship contender Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed while testing at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

Hunter-Reay was making a qualifying run when his Andretti Autosport entry spun in the second turn and scraped the wall. The Andretti team went to work changing the engine after the crash, which will draw a 10-spot penalty on the starting grid.