STORRS, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said Friday he is being treated for a second bout of skin cancer but expects to be back on the bench this fall for his 22nd season with the Huskies.
``I want to coach basketball at UConn. I'm hopefully not going any place,'' Calhoun said. ``At this moment I love what I do and feel very, very comfortable in doing that.''
The 66-year-old Hall of Fame coach said doctors determined last month that a lump in the upper right side of his neck near the jaw line was squamous cell cancer, a type of skin cancer. He had surgery on May 6 to remove the lump, several surrounding lymph nodes and part of his salivary gland. Subsequent tests indicated all the cancer had been removed.
Calhoun was first treated for squamous cell cancer last year when doctors found it on his cheek. Doctors told him the recurrence this spring is related to his prior skin cancer but not related to the prostate cancer he was treated for in 2003.
His physician, Dr. Jeffrey Spiro, who attended a news conference with Calhoun on Friday, said he believes the coach is now cancer-free and that his prognosis is good.
``Squamous cell cancer of the skin is not generally a very aggressive disease,'' Spiro said.
According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer, with over 250,000 new cases a year in the United States.
Calhoun is scheduled to undergo six weeks of radiation treatments next month at the UConn Health Center to minimize any chance of the cancer returning. His doctors told him there will be some short-term side effects from the radiation but expect Calhoun to return to his normal lifestyle, including coaching.
``I have one more step to go. I feel much, much better, thank God,'' Calhoun said.
In his tenure at UConn, Calhoun has turned a regional program into a perennial national powerhouse that includes two NCAA titles (1999, 2004).
He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005 and has amassed 750 wins in his 35-year coaching career. He finished with a 248-137 record in his 14 years at Northeastern and has a 502-191 record at UConn.
Calhoun's programs also have been a successful springboard to the NBA. There have been 21 former Huskies drafted under Calhoun; 14 of those were first-rounders. In 2006, UConn became the first school to have five players taken in the first two rounds of the NBA draft.
Despite the latest health setback, Calhoun, a grandfather of six, said he never considered retiring.
``All I thought was how do we defeat this,'' Calhoun said. ``I love my family, I love my life, I love my kids. I love what I do.''
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