Jim Boeheim’s comments about Pitt didn’t go over well in Syracuse either
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When Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim took a swat at Pitt and a few other ACC schools for “buying a team,” it didn’t go over well in Pittsburgh.
It didn’t go over well elsewhere.
Like, in Syracuse.
Brent Axe is a radio host at ESPN Syracuse and a columnist for Syracuse.com. He joined me for a “Breakfast With Benz” podcast in advance of the Pitt-Syracuse game on Saturday. In the past, Syracuse fans would often rally to support Boeheim when he would ruffle feathers in other markets. But Axe said there was little support for him in Central New York on this front.
“Not well,” Axe responded when I asked how Syracuse fans reacted to Boeheim’s comments on Feb. 4. “Syracuse fans are frustrated with the team. When Jim made those comments to Pete Thamel (ESPN.com), it was on top of when Jim had gone after a couple of student reporters at recent press conferences. It was just one thing after the other. But it was just irresponsible to point fingers at other programs when Syracuse — that week — had flown in a recruit (Elijah Moore) by a big-time booster, sat him courtside with a couple of famous rappers, then the kid signs a few days later. What a coincidence.”
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Axe said comments toward other programs in the conference didn’t sit well with Syracuse’s administration. Not only did they make the institution look hypocritical, they came off as Boeheim being out of touch with how NCAA rules operate now.
“Syracuse has fully gone in on the NIL (name image and likeness) game. It is literally buying players, and you got Boeheim spouting off on that. So that was a big mess. He was certainly talked to by management at Syracuse — athletic director John Wildhack. Since then, Jim has been pretty timid by Jim’s standards. Now you’ve got a team that has lost its last two games (Duke, Clemson) by an average of 20 points.
“Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
Boeheim is 78 years old. This is his 47th year coaching at Syracuse. Barring an unlikely run to an ACC Conference Tournament crown, this will be the second year in a row that the Orange will miss the NCAA Tournament. At 16-12, if the Orange fail to win 20 games, it’ll be the fourth straight year that has happened and the fifth time in seven seasons. Twenty wins used to be the standard level of expectation on the Syracuse campus. The Orange hit that mark every year between 1998-2014.
Many are wondering if it is time for Boeheim to retire. But in that same ESPN.com conversation with Thamel, Boeheim said he would “probably” return for at least the 2023-24 season.
Axe doesn’t sound like he’s expecting anything different.
“You would have thought it would have happened by now,” Axe said. “Maybe it just kind of naturally solves itself, and Jim kind of finally sees the writing on the wall here and says, ‘OK, either I’ve got to step down.’ Or someone above him has to (step in).”’
Axe says Boeheim’s competitiveness may not allow that to happen without a struggle.
“Jim is always going to think he’s the answer to the question,” Axe said. “He’s so competitive that he’ll say, ‘I can fix this.’ So someone else has to come in, kind of tap him on the shoulder and be like, ‘Look, you have given everything you possibly can to this. We got to have a serious conversation about when we put the period at the end of the sentence.’”
Also, in the podcast, Axe and I discuss some of Syracuse’s recent struggles on the court, the rise of point guard Judah Mintz and lingering memories from Pitt’s victory over the Orange during their first matchup in December.
Listen: Tim Benz and Brent Axe preview the Pitt-Syracuse game