There is still no definite timetable for the return of Connecticut men’s basketball head coach Jim Calhoun, said a UConn Athletic Communications spokeswoman reached by telephone Wednesday afternoon.

Calhoun, 67, left the program Tuesday to deal with unidentified medical issues.

Without a clear-cut return date, the coach’s attendance at the Feb. 10 matchup between the Orange and the Huskies at the Carrier Dome now comes into question. Calhoun’s associate head coach, George Blaney, will fill in during the coach’s absence.

‘Our primary concern is coach Calhoun’s health and his complete recovery. We will do everything possible to support Coach during this time,’ said Connecticut Director of Athletics Jeffrey Hathaway in a statement.

Though Calhoun is taking some time off, his medical concerns are not believed to be cancer-related. The longtime Huskies head coach is a three-time cancer survivor. He had his prostate removed in 2003 and has been treated for squamous cell carcinoma twice, most recently in the summer of 2008.

‘It is my recommendation that coach Calhoun take a medical leave from his coaching position to address some temporary medical issues, none of which involve any previous medical conditions that he has dealt with,’ University of Connecticut Health Center physician Peter Schulman, Calhoun’s primary care physician, said in a statement.

Rumors speculate that Calhoun will return in roughly 10 days, but there is still no definitive word on whether or not he will be coaching against Syracuse on Feb. 10. Throughout his career, the coach has a 26-23 record against Syracuse, the last of which being a six-overtime loss to the Orange in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

Blaney has coached in Calhoun’s absence before, including a 3-2 stint when the coach took a leave in 2003, as well as a loss against Georgetown in 2006-07 and a 2009 NCAA Tournament victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga.

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on January 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm