Syracuse, N.Y. ― Jim Boeheim revealed that Syracuse has a plan in place for his eventual retirement and who will succeed him as basketball coach.
The topic of Boeheim’s retirement came up, again, after Syracuse’s 97-79 loss to Duke on Saturday, which also happened to be the last game for Mike Krzyzewski, the retiring Duke coach who is also a close friend to Boeheim.
On Wednesday, Boeheim surprised Brent Axe, host of “On the Block’’ on ESPN Radio Syracuse, by phoning in at the top of Axe’s show.
As he did on Saturday, Boeheim said that he would return to coach the Orange during the 2022-23 season.
Boeheim, who is 77 and in his 46th season as head coach, said that he told each of Syracuse’s five high school commits in the 2022 recruiting class that he would be at Syracuse to coach them next season. Boeheim said his thoughts on coaching had not changed even as Syracuse has struggled to a 15-15 record this season.
“I think if I said I’m quitting now, after giving my word to these players, to me it would look like, ‘Oh, they’ve had a bad year, so he’s just going to quit,’’’ Boeheim said. “That’s what it would look like to me. Maybe not to you. Maybe not to someone else. But that’s what I would see. ‘He’s given his word to these players, he’s healthy, he feels great, but they’re having a bad year, so he’s just going to quit’.’’
But then Boeheim revealed the big news: That there is a plan in place for when he will step down as Syracuse’s coach and how the succession will take place.
“I’m not going to tell you or anybody when this is going to be, (but) we have a plan in place,’’ said Boeheim. “A good plan. An iron-clad plan. It’s not my decision. I’m not naming the coach like people say all the time. I’ve had no input in any (athletic director) that’s ever been hired here, any associate AD that’s ever been hired here, even the AD that oversees basketball. I’ve never had any input into that. None.
“And that’s fine. I’m not the athletic director. I’m not the chancellor.’’
“But we have a plan,’’ he said. “We’re obviously not going to release it because we don’t want everybody we’re recruiting against to know what we’re going to do.’’
When pressed, Boeheim did allow that he would have some input in the process.
“I’m not saying I won’t say something,’’ he said, “but it’s 100 percent not my decision and that’s the way it should be.’’
Axe asked Boeheim if that means he knows when he will retire.
“Yes,’’ Boeheim said. “We have a plan. Yes.’’
Did Boeheim know when or how he would announce his decision? “I don’t have a say in that. That’s up to the school.’’
Krzyzewski announced his decision to retire last summer. That allowed him to keep his word to Duke’s recruits. It also allowed Duke to name his successor, former Duke player and current assistant Jon Scheyer.
“Everybody brings up Mike Krzyzewski,’’ Boeheim said. “I’ve known 100 coaches that have retired, 99 of them have retired after the season. Mike Krzyzewski is the only coach I know that retired before the season and coached. That’s highly unusual. It worked fine for Duke. Duke is a little bit different than Syracuse, but it worked fine for Duke.
“But we have a plan.’’
Boeheim would not say if the plan included the choice for his successor.
“There’s a plan,’’ he said. “I’m just telling you there’s a plan.’’
Boeheim said the plan has been in place for “a while. That’s why I said from the beginning (of the season) that I’m coaching next year.’’
Boeheim said his mission is to hand over a successful program that’s on solid footing to whoever is Syracuse’s next head coach.
“At the end of the day, I can promise you that I’m trying to leave this program in the best position that it can be in when I leave,’’ he said. “I think we will be able to do that.’’
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