The Daily Orange wrote a whole bunch of great articles Thursday to preview the 2012-2013 Syracuse Orange basketball season. One of them was this piece on assistant coach and head-coach-in-waiting Mike Hopkins.
It's basically a giant reminder that Mike Hopkins is awesome and amazing at his job. Behold...
"I think the biggest thing is when you really get to know somebody, you have a better chance of coaching them," Hopkins said. "I think it’s the best way to do it. It’s my style and it’s something I pride myself in."
"I think I was more like his little brother or son," Hart said. "It was more like my comfort zone, being away from California, he was another guy I could relate to. Obviously as my coach, he was more of a friend and a mentor."
"He’s a guy that anytime I need a shoulder to lean on, somebody to talk to and who’s always going to listen to me, give advice, Hop is always the guy to call," Jardine said. "He’s always been big in my life. Probably one of the biggest influences in my life."
The article also recalls the story of Hopkins not letting a little vomit ruin a good practice and the knowledge that Hopkins is listed as "White Dad" in Scoop Jardine's phone.
The article even reminds us that one day soon, Hops will be the man in charge. As scary as it might sound that someone other than Jim Boeheim in charge, Boeheim isn't one of the people too worried about it.
"Roy Danforth won here, Fred Lewis won here, the guy next, Mike Hopkins, will win here as well," Boeheim said.