Cal to columnist: 'You need to go see a therapist'

Today's debacle has everyone a bit perturbed.

But no one's more heated than Coach Cal.

In his postgame press conference, Cal said he was "embarrassed" and that he's "not going to apologize from the fans, but if they were disappointed in us, they had more than a right to be."

But the head coach saved his strongest criticisms for Connecticut Post columnist Chris Elsberry.

Although the video gives Cal's side, the full transcript, courtesy of The Courant's Mike Anthony, paints the full picture.

Read it after the jump:

"Coach, considering the circumstances, you coming back ..." Elsberry began before Calhoun cut him off.

"I'm coaching," he said. "I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I can be and I will need to be if I have to. Very simply, I coached the game today. One has nothing to do [with the other]. I didn't die. I was around. George [Blaney] did a magnificent job coaching the team. The only thing I can do is speak about today. I can't speak about tomorrow, yesterday. I can speak about, you probably want to know what happened, at least what I think happened, in the 40 minutes. Me coming back, not coming back ..."

Said Elsberry: "That's what I was asking you about. Why did your team not play with any fire today?"

"They didn't want to play for me," Calhoun said with sarcasm. "If that's the loaded question you want, fine."

Later, Calhoun said, "I came back because I had a job that I feel I needed to finish. I came back because I want to coach. And I was as befuddled — I guess one gentleman thinks [players] quit on me, which is fine. That's his terminology, a twist. But he's been known to do that on occasions, or set up a question that way."

Elsberry: "Coach, did you hear the word 'quit' come out of my mouth because that's not what I said."

Calhoun responded with UConn spokesman Kyle Muncy twice interjecting to say "next question."

"You need to go see a therapist," Calhoun said. "He'll help you out. I'm just being honest with you. You set the question up, 'How come they didn't play for you?' I don't know, really, what you want me to say. Do you want to have a one-on-one dialogue? There are other guys here who might want to hear the answer to that, but I don't."

This isn't an explosion on the same level of the infamous "Not another dime" and Ryan Gomes rants, but my guess is he'll regret it almost as much come Sunday morning, if he doesn't already.

These are sad times, my friends.