Jim Calhoun’s UConn Huskies men’s basketball team has been struggling as of late and now it turns out that Calhoun is battling through a medical condition called spinal stenosis.
According to the release below, Calhoun will be taking a indefinite medical leave of absence to deal with the problem and will definitely not be on the sidelines when they take on Seton Hall on Saturday and Louisville on Monday.
STORRS (February 3, 2010) — University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun will take an indefinite medical leave of absence, effective immediately, to deal with worsening spinal stenosis, a lower back condition that causes him severe pain and hampers mobility.
Calhoun will not coach Saturday’s game against Seton Hall nor Monday’s game at Louisville and his condition will be evaluated on a daily basis as options for treatment are explored. Associate head coach George Blaney will be in charge of the team in Calhoun’s absence.
According to Dr. Peter Schulman of the UConn Health Center, Calhoun’s primary health care physician, stenosis is a condition that the UConn coach has been coping with for the last few months.
“Last summer, Jim had some significant back pain and has seen two excellent back specialists,” Schulman said. “The initial approach recommended to him was stretching, physical therapy and exercise, and that was successful for several months. It turns out that there is some degenerative problem in the lumbar vertebrae and it’s impinging on the nerves. It has led to significant back pain and some symptoms in his lower extremities.
“Jim has been able to manage it with the physical therapy and stretching, but over the last several days, things have become worse and he is not able to deal with this on a day to day basis, so other options need to be considered. Right now, he is physically unable to coach.”
Calhoun told the Associated Press that he was going to try to get through the season with the condition but the pain has become too much for him.
The Huskies went 2-1 without him earlier this season when he served his NCAA suspension from the recruiting scandal from last year that involved Nate Miles.
Best of luck to Calhoun. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back roaming the sidelines sooner rather later.
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Photo credit: Bettina Hansen – Hartford Courant
