Oh boy, here we go again. At the end of every Syracuse Men’s Basketball season people ponder when Jim Boeheim will retire. Is this the year? How is he still going? When will this guy finally hang it up?
With both of his sons, Buddy and Jimmy, graduating and not coming back next season, this year seemed like it would be it. However, after the Duke game last weekend, Jim was adamant he will be back on the sidelines next year.
“You don’t need to ask this,” Boeheim said. “It’s been asked and answered 26,000 times. Every press conference I gave in the beginning of the year is ‘I have no intentions of not coaching.’ I’ve said it 30 times. Because we’re having a bad year, you want me to quit? I don’t quit because we’re having a bad year.”
Boeheim doubled down on his comments on Wednesday when he joined Brent Axe’s show “On The Block” on ESPN Syracuse.
So, Boeheim has a plan, “an ironclad plan” to be specific. That means he has to be done after next season, right? I really doubt he is planning three years ahead. That just does not seem like what Jim Boeheim would do.
This hypothetical timeline would make sense. Coach K is currently doing his final rounds and I’m sure Boeheim didn’t want to take away from his close friend’s last year. Plus, K would absolutely outshine Boeheim if they went on a farewell tour battle, which would probably make the SU coach pretty upset.
The head man also mentions how he doesn’t want to make an announcement due to recruiting reasons. However, doesn’t making that statement impact recruiting? If I am a high school prospect that is considering Syracuse and I hear that, I immediately think Boeheim will be gone at some point when I’m at SU. That is obviously something the Orange can’t avoid because it is going to happen at some point, but if you are going to keep it a secret, then keep it a secret and don’t even go out saying something like this.
Jim Boeheim is the only person that knows when Jim Boeheim will retire, maybe Juli too. So, this is a debate that we can continue to have, but it will never be resolved until the official press release.
