Jim Boeheim’s Hall-of-Fame career took a hit on Friday when the NCAA brought the hammer down on his Syracuse men’s basketball program.
The 70-year-old coach didn’t help himself in the court of public opinion on Saturday as he completed his 39th season as Orange head coach. He declined to meet the media after Syracuse’s season-ending, 71-57 loss at North Carolina State. After being booed lustily by the Wolfpack crowd, Boeheim had assistant coach Mike Hopkins attend the postgame press conference.
On Friday, the NCAA suspended Boeheim for the first nine ACC games of next year and docked him 108 victories after a lengthy investigation revealed a decade-long series of violations such as improper benefits, academic misconduct and drug-policy failures.
The flagship men’s basketball program will lose 12 scholarships over the next four years (three per season) and is under probation for five years. In addition, just two coaches can recruit off-campus — other schools are allowed to have four — between Jan 1, 2015 and May 31, 2017. The Syracuse football program also received five years’ probation.
Syracuse already had banned its basketball program from postseason play in February.
Hopkins told reporters Boeheim didn’t attend the presser so he wouldn’t have torepeatedly give no-comment answer when asked about the 94-page NCAA report. ESPN reported on Friday that Boeheim plans to appeal his suspension.
“He’s a legend,” Hopkins said. “When people ask me if I’m gonna be the next coach at Syracuse, I say I’m gonna put up a fence and protect his legacy.
“Coach is a warrior. He’s a superhero. Superhero.”
Syracuse athletic director Darryl Gross told Syracuse.com the school is considering an appeal of the NCAA’s decision, but wouldn’t elaborateon which violations the university would challenge.
Boeheim issued a statement on Saturday, saying he wanted the final game of the season to be about the team and not the NCAA’s ruling and punishments handed down to the basketball program, which is why he skipped the press conference.
“There will be time in the future for me to fully comment on NCAA issues,” Boeheim said in the statement, “and, of course, I will take the opportunity to do that at the right time.”