UpdatedMar 5, 2012 4:11 PM ET

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun hasn't made any plans to retire just yet.

The 69-year-old Hall-of-Famer, a self-described gym rat, is back from a monthlong medical leave that had many questioning whether he would ever coach again.

''We started this thing, I started it, 26 years ago and I haven't made any plans to do anything else except come back,'' Calhoun said Friday. ''A few other things along the way have gotten in my way.''

And so he was at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday, less than a week after having a disk fragment removed from his spine, leading the Huskies to a 74-65 win over Pittsburgh. And on Monday, he was leading practice and getting ready to head out to Madison Square Garden for Tuesday's start to the Big East tournament, hoping to lead the Huskies on a run similar to the 11-game streak that brought them a third national title a year ago.

''Somebody said to me, `Jeez it will be great to have you there,''' Calhoun said Monday. ''I said, actually, you'd be better off having (former UConn guard) Kemba (Walker) here. ''

What happens after this season is anyone's guess, and pundits, friends, even former players and assistant coaches are doing just that.

''It's like, `OK, Jim you're 70 years old, what more do you want to prove?'' said Digger Phelps, a former coach at Notre Dame, and now an analyst at ESPN. ''He's a survivor and he's a survivor as a coach. He's at the point now where he's won three national titles. He knows what's at stake. He's gotta make that decision.''

Calhoun is a three-time cancer survivor, overcoming prostate cancer in 2003 and skin cancer twice, most recently in 2008. He has missed 29 games over his 40-year career because of various medical conditions and had to leave another 11 games for medical reasons.

See more here:
Calhoun retirement talk rekindled