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Men's Basketball

Sports world reacts as Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim’s career ends

Emily Steinberger | Senior Staff Photographer

Jim Boeheim is no longer the head coach of Syracuse men's basketball as his 47-year tenure came to end on Wednesday.

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Within hours of head coach Jim Boeheim leaving his postgame press conference following an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament defeat to Wake Forest, Syracuse Athletics announced that the 47-year head coach would not be returning next season. While it had been rumored for years that Boeheim’s retirement was impending, the sports world took to Twitter to share their reactions to one of the longest-tenured head coaches in college basketball leaving his post for the first time in nearly five decades.






ESPN commentator and former Duke assistant coach Jay Bilas said this after the announcement: “I first met Jim Boeheim when I was 17 years old and he was recruiting me as the Syracuse head coach. I can’t think of basketball without thinking of Jim Boeheim. The accomplishments are so many, you can’t list them.”



Washington head coach Mike Hopkins, who was next in line at one point to take over for Boeheim, said this when he heard the news: “Very few people can do it for that long. He’s given his heart and soul to that school. I’m surprised they haven’t given him a statute in the middle of campus. You think of Syracuse University, you think of Jim Boeheim.”





Former Indiana and Georgia head coach and current ESPN analyst Tom Crean said this after hearing of Boeheim’s retirement: “He wants to come back, that’s what it sounds like to me. Has he given his retirement speech? Probably. But it does not sound to me like he wants to hang it up. Selfishly, I hope he doesn’t.”



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