PITTSBURGH — He wasn't going to step away without another verbal boxing match. That was my initial thought upon watching fabled Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim sort of say goodbye Wednesday — and I knew from personal experience that Boeheim loves to mix it up (more on that later).
Was he fired or did he retire? It sure seemed like the former after Boeheim's cryptic back-and-forth with reporters. A man famed for his arrogance and directness couldn't give a straight answer to a yes-or-no question: Is he retiring?
"This is up to the university," Boeheim told reporters.
Really? I always thought it was up to Boeheim. He sure behaved as if it was, like when he told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Feb. 4 that he'd "probably" return for a 48th season and that he'd be the one making that decision. Now it was "up to the university?"
Were we supposed to believe he'd coach if "the university" forced him to coach but otherwise would retire? Really?
Anyway, a torrent of thoughts flood to mind as I meditate on a man who I'm pretty sure has been active in my sports consciousness for as long as any living person. Are there any other prominent sports figures who were working the same job Wednesday as they were in 1976?
Thoughts ...
— Boeheim could be a condescending jerk, but he was never dull. In a strange way, I'm going to miss his presence. I'm going to miss the possibility of an interesting quote, as compared to the cliche-ridden trash we hear from most coaches.
— I'm old enough to be a grandfather. I was 10 when Boeheim was hired at Syracuse, a year before the Big East was born. I grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., watching Pearl Washington and all those awesome Syracuse teams light up the Carrier Dome. Boeheim's horn-rimmed glasses and perpetual smirk were as ever-present as his 2-3 zone defense. There is no denying his coaching greatness. In 47 seasons, his teams made 35 NCAA Tournament appearances, advanced to five Final Fours and won a national title. I'll remember how he advanced in tournaments with less-talented teams, too, using that 2-3 zone, and how he was content to stay at Syracuse instead of hopping from job to job.
— His programs also cheated, if you believe the NCAA investigations that claimed as much, or if you simply believe former Pitt star Brandin Knight.
In the early 1990s, Syracuse was put on probation for two years for violations across several sports. In 2015, Boeheim was suspended for nine games after an investigation found, as the New York Times put it, "academic misconduct, extra benefits and violations of the university's drug testing policy that had occurred for more than a decade."
About a month ago, Boeheim had the nerve to accuse Pitt of buying a team (he later recanted), prompting this fabulous tweet from Knight, now an assistant coach at Rutgers: "This sounds like sour grapes. Next time ask (Boeheim) how many teams he bought before NIL was legal. Don't throw stones from a glass house. Remember you've been coaching for a lot of years and a lot of us know who got paid!!!!"
— Nobody gets the benefit of the doubt like a beloved college basketball coach. With Boeheim, people can't even bring themselves to say he might have been fired. The university tweeted that his tenure "comes to an end." One story phrased it like this: "The university announced the men's basketball coaching transition."
Inconvenient truths. They hurt. John Wooden's programs cheated, too, you know. The Los Angeles Times broke that story in 1982, using 45 interviews with people connected to the program, including former players and coaches. It labeled wealthy UCLA booster Sam Gilbert as a "one-man clearinghouse" for players. It detailed how members of seven of Wooden's 10 championship teams were lavished with "cars, stereos, clothes, airline tickets and scalpers' prices for season tickets," all against NCAA rules.
One of the reporters was Mike Littwin, whom I caught up with in 2015 when he was working for the Denver Post.
"No one other than Sam Gilbert ever disputed a word we wrote," Littwin said. "No one said they were misquoted. The only (fan) complaint we got was, 'Why don't you do the same thing to USC football?'"
— I encountered the full contradiction of Boeheim back in 2015, when I was doing a radio show at a downtown sports bar. This was a few days after I had asked him (when it seemed like no one else would) at a postgame news conference about perceptions of his program in the wake of the second postseason ban of his tenure. That story had just broken.
"I don't give a (crap) about what those people think," he said. "I know what I've done. I know what we do, and I'm proud of it."
I then wrote a piece comparing Boeheim to Bill Belichick and even wondered (tongue-in-cheek, of course) if he'd deflated basketballs. I don't think Boeheim appreciated it. The Syracuse Post-Standard picked up on the piece and put it under the headline, "Syracuse's Jim Boeheim arrogant, unprofessional and just like Bill Belichick, Pittsburgh writer says."
So I'm sitting there a few days later, doing the show, when a "315" area code pops up on my phone. I figured it was an angry Syracuse rep calling — and I guess it kind of was.
"Hi Joe, it's Jim Boeheim."
I expected him to unleash, but he apologized for what he labeled poor behavior at the news conference and then told his side of the violations story. He was perfectly cordial. It was a little odd and yet charmingly old school and humanizing.
Boeheim wouldn't know me if I walked into his house, but like I said before, in a strange kind of way, I'm going to miss him.
