Players see the other side of Calhoun

STORRS, Conn. (WTNH) -- The Storrs campus looked a lot different back in May of 1986 when Jim Calhoun was introduced as the new head coach.

Calhoun's Huskies gave the state of Connecticut something to rally around. No one was affected more than the 200 or so plus players who played for him. They heard him yell, they heard him scream, but they saw the other side too.

"Behind closed doors he would talk to you, make you grow as a person, explain things, why you shouldn't do this or why he doesn't believe you should be doing this," said Scott Burrell, who played at UConn from 1989 to 1993. "He has two sides. Behind closed doors you see the more compassionate person and outside you see the competitive person."

"He is the reason why I had a 'cup of tea' I call it in the NBA, six years" said Donny Marshall. "He's the reason I graduated in four years with a degree in business. He's the reason I own a golf course. He's the reason I've been in broadcasting ten years. Everything he taught me between the years of 1991 and 1995 I've used the rest of my life."

Kevin Ollie, who takes over the reins from Calhoun said, "he showed each and every day how he loved his family, how he loved Mrs. Calhoun and all his grandchildren, and Jeff and Jim, and you know, he'd rant and rave around us, and then when one of his grandchildren come in he was fine."

"Throughout it all he still helped me get back in school and wants to see me finish," said Tony Robertson, a UConn player from 1999-2003. "When you playing for him you don't realize the intentions he has for you until you're done playing."

"From Day one he told me I was going to have to come here and work hard to achieve everything I want to achieve in my career, and that's exactly what happened," said Kemba Walker, UConn player from 2008 to 2011 and now plays for the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA.

"I love that man to the death," Walker said.

That sentiment is echoed by many of Calhoun's former players. Calhoun created a family atmosphere around the basketball program.