After an eight-year-long investigation into academic misconduct alleged to have been perpetrated by coaches, staffers, professors, and administrators at Syracuse University, the school has announced that head coach Jim Boeheim will retire in three years.
The 70-year-old Boeheim had led Syracuse to 31 NCAA tournaments before the Orange’s absence this spring. He brought home 11 regular season conference championships as well as five conference titles. He also led the team to take the 2003 NCAA title and has four times taken the team to the Final Four.
As Boeheim announced his retirement his career has come under a cloud after the years-long investigation into rules breaking and the falsification of academic records so that certain players could continue competing despite flagging grades and failing to meet standards.
As Sports Illustrated reported, Coach Boeheim “compiled a record of 966-333, though he will have 108 of his 966 victories vacated following an eight-year investigation by the NCAA.”
After the investigation came to a close, the university announced a “self-imposed” penalty for “past mistakes.”
In February the school’s administrators said that the university was going to impose a postseason ban on itself thereby taking itself out of postseason play.
But the NCAA also imposed some penalties of its own on the schoo. Early in March the NCAA ruled that 108 wins will be vacated, that coach Jim Boeheim will be suspended for nine ACC games. Additionally 12 scholarships will be taken away from the program. A five-year probationary period will also be imposed on the school.
In a new letter to the school, though, Syracuse Chancellor Kent Syverud says that the school disagrees with the “severity” of the NCAA’s penalties.
The University does not agree with all of the conclusions reached by the Committee on Infractions and does not agree that the full set of penalties imposed by the Committee are appropriate or equitable. We remain disturbed by the severity of certain penalties and the characterization by the NCAA of certain facts surrounding the case. After a full discussion with the Board of Trustees Athletics Committee, the University accepts some of the penalties imposed by the Committee, but will appeal the vacation of certain wins for the men s basketball program and the reduction in men s basketball scholarships.
In the same open letter to the university, Chancellor Syverud also announced that coach Boeheim will retire.
“Coach Boeheim has also told me that he intends to retire as Head Coach in three years,” Syverud wrote on Wednesday. “His goal in making this decision and announcement now is to bring certainty to the team and program in the coming years, and enable and plan for a successful, longer-term transition in coaching leadership. Coach Boeheim s commitment to ensuring that the men s basketball program remains strong even after his tenure is just one more example of his deep loyalty to our University.”
The announcement of Coach Boeheim’s retirement comes on the heels of the resignation of athletic director Daryl Gross.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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