Connecticut is negotiating a long-term deal with Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun that could keep him at the school into his 70s, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.com.
The 67-year-old Calhoun is in the final year of his current six-year contract, which pays $1.6 million a year and expires on June 30, 2010.
UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway and Calhoun's agent, Jeff Schwartz, have had phone conversations throughout the summer and into the fall trying to finalize a deal, sources said.
Hathaway confirmed to ESPN.com Tuesday through UConn spokesman Kyle Muncy that the two sides have been talking, but wouldn't divulge the terms under discussion, including length and money.
Sources have told ESPN.com that the long-term deal would be a minimum of four years but could be as long as six.
Calhoun is a two-time cancer survivor and is coming off a summer where he had to rehab eight broken ribs from a fall during his charity bike ride last June.
Calhoun, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, has coached Connecticut to two national championships (1999 and 2004) and three Final Fours, the third being last April when the Huskies lost to Michigan State in the national semifinals in Detroit.
Calhoun, who is entering his 24th season in Storrs, has won 805 games in Division I, including 557 games at UConn.
The Huskies are currently under an NCAA investigation because of possible ties to former agent and student manager Josh Nochimson and his involvement with former UConn student-athlete Nate Miles, who never played for the Huskies and was dismissed from school in October of 2008.
The NCAA has yet to issue the university a notice of allegations. It remains unclear if or when the NCAA's enforcement staff will have enough evidence to deliver a notice of allegations.
The Huskies lost senior starters A.J. Price and Jeff Adrien as well as junior center and co-Big East Player of the Year Hasheem Thabeet to the NBA draft. But they return a potential all-Big East backcourt in sophomore Kemba Walker and senior Jerome Dyson, who missed the final 12 games last season due to a knee injury. The Huskies also return senior forward Stanley Robinson and brought in a heralded class of newcomers led by forwards Ater Majok (eligible in mid-December), freshman Alex Oriakhi and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel.
The Huskies have already picked up a key commitment for 2010 from 6-foot-4 guard Jeremy Lamb of Norcross, Ga.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.