Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim discusses retirement

When the NCAA announced the penalties handed down to the Syracuse basketball program in the spring, one thing that caught people’s attention was the plan regarding head coach Jim Boeheim. With the school announcing that Boeheim would be around no later than the end of the 2017-18 season (with Mike Hopkins taking over), there was a clear timeline in regards to the end of his Hall of Fame coaching career.

Thursday Boeheim’s eventual retirement was one of the topics he touched on while being interviewed on campus, and he gave an interesting response according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.

“I only go one year at a time. I look at this year and this might be the last year. You never know in coaching. I look at each year as a separate entity. Let’s put everything we’ve got into this year and get as much as we can accomplish done this year. That’s the way I’ve always coached. There’s been no difference between year 1, 10 and year 40.”

While Boeheim noted that this is the approach he’s taken for quite some time now, that likely won’t stop some fans from getting alarmed about the possibility of Boeheim leaving the sidelines ahead of 2018. But it should be noted that even if Boeheim were to do so, Syracuse has a clear plan in place and that wasn’t the case in the spring.

While Hopkins was assumed to be the successor no official designation had been made, and with the NCAA sanctions who knew what the school would ultimately decide. But with Hopkins now officially the head coach in waiting, there are no lingering questions. Whenever Boeheim decides to step aside, be it in 2018 or earlier, Syracuse is well-positioned to handle the transition.