Jim Boeheim has retired as Syracuse’s head coach after 47 years on the job.
I’ll miss him.
But sometimes you have to know when it’s time to leave center stage.
Boeheim won 1115 games, coached the Orange to a national championship in 2003 and five Final Fours, was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2005.
But sometimes your ego can get in the way of your common sense.
Syracuse has hardly moved the needle in the past five years since the school moved from the Big East to the ACC. Boeheim did make an unexpected run to a Final Four in 2016 and an Elite Eight the following year, but mostly, it was scrambling for a low seed in the tournament, then hoping the zone would work its magic in March. Despite the disappointments on the floor and the backlash from frustrated fans, it didn’t stop Boeheim from stating his case, battling with younger members of the media, accusing other schools of buying a team and proclaiming it was his decision when he wanted to step down and he could do anything he wanted.
Yesterday, the school decided for him, A half hour after the Orange lost to Wake Forest, 77-74, on a three- point buzzer beater in the ACC tournament in faraway Greensboro, Syracuse announced associate head coach Adrian
Autry, who had been with the program since 2011, would replace the 78-year- old Boeheim. Boeheim was not quoted in the press release.
It was an awkward ending for Boeheim, who lost to one of the coaches he accused of being a team in a tournament of the conference he never wanted to join.
The timing of the announcement wasn’t set until after Syracuse lost today, according to Sports Illustrated. And it came in the form of a clumsy press release.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that without Jim Boeheim, Syracuse basketball would not be the powerhouse program it is today,” Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a statement. “Jim has invested and dedicated the majority of his life to building this program, producing 35 NBA first round picks, cultivating generations of student athletes and representing his alma mater with pride and distinction. I extend my deep appreciation and gratitude to an alumnus who epitomizes what it means to be Forever Orange.”
Jim Boeheim did not want to say goodbye. He has been synonymous with this upstate New York city and its university. He was born in the Central New York town of Lyons, not far from campus. He enrolled in school in 1962 as a walk on, eventually becoming the captain of the Orange along with the great Dave Bing. In 1969, he was hired as a graduate assistant and become head coach in 1976. He has been the face of the program ever since.
And he loved it. He once said his dream vacation was to spend two weeks in Syracuse.
He was one of the founding fathers of the Big East,
He built a national program that won 10 Big East championships 5 tournament titles, went to 35 NCAA tournaments and routinely put 30,000 in the Dome during cold, snowy nights for Big East rivalry games, especially against the Patrick Ewing Georgetown teams, which became the social of the winter. He unleashed Dwayne Washington the most exciting player in history of the league, on Big Monday telecasts, where the Pearl once launched a game winning shot at the buzzer against BC, then ran off the court as soon as it left his hand in advance of the horde of fans, who stormed the court once the ball fell through the nets.
He produced 23 NBA first round draft picks, a generation of great players like Rony Seikaly, Derrick Coleman, Billy Owens, Sherman Douglas, Laurence Moten, Carmelo Anthony gym rat Jerry McNamara, who single handedly carried the Orange to a Big East tournament championship in 2006 and he coached a 127-117 – overtime victory against UConn in a 2009 Big East quarterfinal that lasted until 1:22 in the morning.
I still remember the heart break of 1987 when the Orange lost the national title on a last second shot by Keith Smart and the jubilation when they defeated Kansas in the national championship game with Anthony going for 30.
Boeheim owned New York City in those days.And he gained some international success as Mike Krzyzewski’s assistant coach on three Olympic gold medal teams.
He was a stranger in a strange land in the ACC, never winning a regular season or tournament championship.
“As I said from Day One when I started working here, the university hired me, and it’s their choice what they want to do,” Boeheim said. “I always have the choice of retirement, but it’s their decision as to whether I coach or not. It’s always been that. I’ve just been lucky enough to do it for as long as I have,
“I’ve been very lucky to be able to coach my college team, to play and then be an assistant coach and then a head coach, never having to leave Syracuse. It’s a great university. The city has embraced our team. I am amazed that we’ve been able to draw the fans that we’ve been able to draw over the years.
“I’ve been unbelievably fortunate to keep this job. Mike Brey is thrilled that he was at Notre Dame 23 years; he’s a puppy. I got to coach my two sons. Two years ago, we were in the Sweet 16. And last year, I got to coach my sons. I wanted to come back and coach these guys and that’s what I was able to do. The university hasn’t offered me anything, whether to work or do anything at the university. That’s their choice.”
Syracuse obviously wants to cut the cord all together with a new face.
But they can never erase what Boeheim did there. Nor should they..
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