This has gotten ugly for Syracuse hoops. The season is skidding off the road, and out of the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse fans have started grumbling about when Jim Boeheim might finally call it quits. And Doug Gottlieb says rivals are using Boeheim against him on the recruiting trail.
In a Field of 68 Podcast longtime college basketball writer Jeff Goodman and Gottlieb both agreed it’s time for Boeheim to step down.
“I would say he’s 77 years old. I think if you look at it, you say to yourself, it’s probably not going to get much better at this point. And I always worry because it started happening with Lute Olson… Go out while you are healthy, go out while you can enjoy some time with your wife Julie and go travel and do it,” Goodman says. “Yes, you’ve coached your sons now. The time is probably now… Go out the right way.”
“Should he? Yes, of course. Of course,” Gottlieb adds. “Will he? Of course not. What he should do is say, ‘When my sons are done, I’m done.’ But the idea that anyone’s going to tell Jim Boeheim when to walk away? The reality is, and he would tell you in his own special way, he’s kept that university and that athletic department afloat as football’s been a disaster. And he’s right. He’s right. You give your entire life to university, and if you suck your last couple years. So be it.”
Gottlieb added, “It’s just the way it is. He should have retired a long time ago when he went to the Final Four, right? It’s like my coach, rest in peace Coach Sutton. He should have retired when he went to the Final Four in ’04… But this thing is that addictive.”
Whether Boeheim should retire has been a topic of debate for years in CNY. Perhaps more damning than the win/loss record is what Gottlieb says is happening in recruiting.
“It’s really hard to recruit when you have a coach’s son, let alone two. Because everybody recruits against ‘daddy ball.’ He can play his kids. And those two can’t guard anybody, right? They can’t play in a zone and we know they don’t they don’t play man to man. They’re just not great length. And they’re not putting the dudes around them that they used to put around some of their best players. Most people would point to the staff, but having a brother that was on a staff that had three coaches sons, it’s impossible. Because everybody knows like, who’s gonna take the shot.. you don’t even have to give preferential treatment. And by the way, one of your sons is their best player. So it’s like, just the way it is.”
To be fair, SU has an elite recruiting class coming in. So rivals calling the Orange “Daddy Ball” didn’t hurt landing some good players for next year. But the results are obvious. This is yet another mediocre or below mediocre season in the ACC, and the only hope is they catch fire in March like we’ve seen in the past.
