Syracuse Orange: Jim Boeheim Lucky To Only Be Suspended By NCAA

By Daniel Tran | Mar 6, 2015

The Syracuse Orange self-imposed a postseason ban during an ongoing investigation about their misconduct. The NCAA announced their punishments today.

Another major university, another investigation that leads to sanctions against a legendary coach and his powerhouse basketball program. Months after academic misconduct was found at the University of North Carolina, the NCAA completed its investigation that showed multiple violations dating back to 2001.

The NCAA announced effective March 6, 2014, Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim would be suspended for nine conference games and scholarships would be taken away from the Syracuse athletic program. The school will also be forced to vacate all wins where ineligible basketball players played from the 2004-05 season through the 2011-2012 season.

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During its 10-year investigation, the NCAA reported violations that included illegal booster activity, academic misbehavior, and illict benefits. The NCAA also cited violations that comprised of the failure of Boeheim to promote a culture of compliance and the university’s lack of control over their athletic programs.

In 2012, the university declared Fab Melo academically ineligible, forcing him out of the NCAA Tournament just days before the tournament began. During the 2012-13 season, James Southerland was suspended for six games before leading Syracuse to a Final Four.

Boeheim should count himself lucky that he is only getting suspended and having scholarships taken away. The fact that he was specifically mentioned in the report along with the dangerous phrase “lack of control” should have been the sharpening of the guillotine blade for Boeheim’s career at Syracuse. However, years of winning and eventual compliance helped him keep his job.

Since 1976, Jim Boeheim has been the head coach of the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team. In that time, he was compiled 966 wins and a win-percentage of 74.4 percent. He has also won 10 regular-season Big East Titles and five Big East Tournament Championships. Under his rule, the Orange have reached four Final Fours and won one National Championship.

Short of being implicated for a violent crime, Boeheim’s resume makes him as bulletproof as they come at Syracuse. That level of success earns a lot of goodwill from the university, who will fight hard to keep him in place.

In an effort to show they were cooperating, Syracuse self-reported these violations to the NCAA and imposed a postseason ban for their basketball program before the NCAA levied their punishment. Boeheim quickly acknowledged his wrongdoing after the investigation was beginning to close.

“I am very disappointed that our basketball team will miss the opportunity to play in the postseason this year,” coach Jim Boeheim stated in a press release. “However, I supported this decision and I believe the University is doing the right thing by acknowledging that past mistakes occurred.”

What else could Boeheim say? A 10-year investigation rarely leaves anyone clean. This has hands-in-a-cookie-jar guilt all over it and the only thing to do is admit fault and cooperate as much as possible to get a favorable punishment.

His public acceptance of the self-imposed postseason ban and cooperation as the investigation was ongoing was a huge factor in him keeping his job. Granted, he had no choice with the university basically gifting all the information to the NCAA.

Moving forward, Boeheim will be hard pressed to have any sort of success lacking a number of scholarships, which will severely put his team at a disadvantage to make the NCAA Tournament. However, with so many violations leading back to him, he should really be breathing a sigh of relief that he has the opportunity to struggle as a coach, rather than languishing unemployed from his couch.

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