Boeheim’s 47-year tenure at Syracuse ends
Jim Boeheim enrolled at Syracuse in 1962. Played there until 1966. Started coaching there in 1969. Took over the program as head coach in 1976.
Put simply, he was Syracuse basketball.
Until now.
The Basketball Hall of Famer’s 47-year tenure as coach at Syracuse came to an awkward end on Wednesday, with the university saying Orange associate head coach and former Syracuse player Adrian Autry has been promoted to the job. The Orange moved quickly, making the announcement less than three hours after Syracuse lost to Wake Forest in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. And if Boeheim knew the announcement was coming, he didn’t let on at what was his final postgame news conference.
“It’s up to the university,” Boeheim said. “They have to make their decision, and it’s up to them.”
The university didn’t wait long before making the decision public, saying in part: “Today, as his 47th season coaching his alma mater comes to an end, so too does his storied career at Syracuse University. Associate Head Coach Adrian Autry ’94, one of Boeheim’s former players and longtime assistant, has been named the program’s next head coach.”
Autry has been on Boeheim’s staff since 2011, and held the title of associate head coach since March 2017.
“There have been very few stronger influential forces in my life than Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim,” Autry said. “They have both played such important roles and without either of them, I am certain I would not have this incredible opportunity before me.”
The 78-year-old Boeheim’s record in his 47 seasons, officially, was 1,015-441. That reflects 101 wins taken away by the NCAA for violations between the 200407 and 2010-12 seasons.
Whether the count was 1,015 or 1,116, only now-retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had more wins than Boeheim at the Division I level. Boeheim led the Orange to the 2003 national title and four other Final Fours.
In Boeheim’s final game, Daivien Williamson made a gamewinning 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left as Wake Forest beat Syracuse 77-74 at Greensboro, N.C.
“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,” Boeheim said in that postgame news conference, one in which he hinted at retirement, then hinted at returning. “It’s a great university.”
Boeheim has been synonymous with Syracuse for more than six decades. He was born in the central New York town of Lyons, not far from Syracuse. He enrolled at the school in 1962 as a walk-on, eventually becoming a captain of the then-Orangemen along with Dave Bing.
In 1969, he was hired at Syracuse as a graduate assistant. And on April 3, 1976, he took the program over after Roy Danforth left for Tulane. Boeheim has led the program since. Even the court at the dome where Syracuse plays its home games has bore his name since 2002.
BEARD IN RUNNING AT OLE MISS
Former Texas men’s basketball coach Chris Beard has been linked to the Mississsippi job opening since the school fired Kermit Davis on Feb. 24. And according to a report by ESPN, Beard has emerged as the “leading candidate” for the job.
ESPN reported Ole Miss officials are “in the process of doing their due diligence” on Beard, whom Texas fired Jan. 5.
Beard, 49, was arrested Dec. 12 and charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly strangling, biting and scratching his fiancée at their residence in Austin. The case was dismissed on Feb. 15.