By Aidan Joly
You might think of a lot of different things when you hear the name Jim Boeheim.
You might think of the 2-3 zone. You might think of his 2003 national championship team with Carmelo Anthony, or any of his other stars of bygone days in the Big East. You might think of his 2005-06 team, which wouldn’t have won “10 f—— games” without Gerry McNamara.
Or, you might think of his rants to the media. His mocking of the ACC tournament in Greensboro. The two NCAA investigations in 1992 and 2015, the second of which led to over 100 wins being vacated. The ugly abuse allegations that led to the firing of longtime assistant Bernie Fine in 2011.
But still, Boeheim was a constant at Syracuse for essentially his entire adult life, either as a player, assistant coach or head coach all but three years since 1963.
1,116 wins (unofficially) later, Boeheim’s ending was as fitting as his tenure as head coach: an awkward press conference in Greensboro where he went back and forth on retirement, followed by a press release a few hours later announcing his retirement, a release that did not include any quotes from Boeheim.
The exit was as complex as the man, who spent 47 of those years as the head coach in Syracuse. He kept a sharp focus on winning at a school that he loved unconditionally and will be remembered as the single-most transformative figure in the school’s existence and is perhaps second only to President Joe Biden as the school’s most recognizable alumnus.
He coached 35 NCAA tournament teams, five of which went to the Final Four and he cut down the nets once in 2003. He helped start up the glory days of the Big East in the 1980s, then saw them fade away with the disbanding of the old Big East in 2013. He coached recognizable names such as Louie and Bouie, Pearl Washington, Derrick Coleman, John Wallace, Anthony, Michael Carter-Williams and finally his own son, Buddy. He moved the program to what’s now called the JMA Wireless Dome, the largest basketball venue in the country.
But he never seemed to fit the part. He was a noted curmudgeon who swore at reporters, was angsty in press conferences, constantly complained about the state of the sport, up right until the end, complaining about NIL just one month ago. He ignored the school’s suggestion in 2015 that he retire in 2018 and the school looked the other way.
He never swayed from the 2-3 zone for decades, even right up until the end when teams caught on and his teams struggled. He wasn’t an avid watcher of film, as many of his colleagues are. He was criticized for nearly 30 years for never winning a national title. And he was criticized until the end for underachieving teams of recent years, the last of which went 17-15 and lost five of six to close the season.
New head coach Adrian Autry has the unenviable task of replacing a legend. It’s becoming more common in the past few years, with Jon Scheyer replacing Mike Krzyzewski, Hubert Davis replacing Roy Williams and Kyle Neptune replacing Jay Wright. It’s a task that amounts to living up to the man who simply is Syracuse University, as complicated as he is.
It’s fair to say that Boeheim deserved a better ending. But maybe it’s what he wanted.
AJ Hoops 