By LENN ROBBINS
May 31, 2008
Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun, who twice has beaten cancer, yesterday said he expects to be on the bench this season despite a third showdown with the disease.
Calhoun, 66, had surgery May 6 to remove a cancerous growth from the upper right side of his neck near the jaw line that doctors said was squamous cell cancer, a type of skin cancer. He is to undergo six weeks of radiation treatments, but his doctor says he now is cancer-free.
"I want to coach basketball at UConn," Calhoun said at a surprise morning news conference in Storrs. "At this moment I love what I'm doing and feel very, very comfortable in doing that."
Calhoun defeated prostate cancer in 2003, and last year doctors removed squamous cell cancer from his cheek. Doctors said this episode is related to his prior skin cancer but not to the prostate cancer.
There can be side-effects from the radiation, including fatigue and headaches, among others, but Dr. Jeffrey Spiro, Calhoun's physician, who attended the news conference, said there is no reason the two-time NCAA champion coach can't be ready for the start of the 2008-09 season.
"I have one more step to go," Calhoun said. "I feel much, much better, thank God."
Calhoun is known for his toughness, which was instilled early in his life. He was informed of his father's death in the middle of a high-school baseball game and postponed college plans to support his family.
