Syracuse announces Jim Boeheim’s retirement in 2018

After the NCAA cracked down on Syracuse’s men’s basketball team in early March, the rumor mills began churning wondering if longtime Orange head coach Jim Boeheim’s days would be numbered on the hardwood.

The NCAA found multiple infractions at Syracuse including players receiving extra benefits, impermissible booster activity, and academic misconduct dating all the way back to the 2004-2005 season but also covering the 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012 seasons. The result was a somewhat heavy handed restriction of scholarships taking the Orange from 13 down to 10 scholarship players over four consecutive seasons, a penalty expected to start in 2015 or in 2016.

The 70-year-old Boeheim has been a staple of Syracuse basketball since 1962 lacing up his high-tops as a guard for the Orangemen until 1966. From 1969 through 1976 he served as an assistant coach before taking over the reigns in 1976. What followed was 966 career wins, or at least 966 until the NCAA vacated 108 wins from Boeheim’s resume due to the violations.

Over 39 years Syracuse has been a powerhouse basketball program making the Final Four (1987, 1996, 2003, and 2013) four times, winning eight Big East regular season championships, six Elite Eight appearances, and one NCAA Championship in 2003. Only eight times in the nearly 40 years of guiding the Orange has Syracuse missed the NCAA Tournament with two of those seasons being “ineligible” (1993 and 2015) for a postseason appearance. In all Syracuse has made the big dance 26 times.

The upcoming changes at Syracuse did not stop with Boeheim, the university also announced the dismissal of athletic director Daryl Gross on Wednesday.

Longtime assistant Mike Hopkins has been considered the eventual replacement for Boeheim for years. How the new athletic director handles putting his or her “people” at key positions within the program could change Hopkins employment at Syracuse.

Boeheim will be remembered for tough Syracuse teams over the years but a knock on his resume may include leaving the program three years into a four year NCAA sanction period.

 

Written by Ryan Wright

Photo credit: usatoday.com; Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim