The Syracuse Orange’s Dino Babers shared plenty during his time at the ACC Football Kickoff podium on Thursday. But the SU football coach was far from done -- and if anything, was just getting warmed up with his most entertaining quips of the day.
We’ll share some more tomorrow as they continue to be revealed, but this quick video likely takes the cake.
Dino Babers had a key recruit coming to campus & couldn't make it. So he called Jim Boeheim... to fill in and recruit a football player. pic.twitter.com/EDGTU9SHzq
— Sean Labar (@SeanLabarACC) July 13, 2017
Yes, Babers once called on SU’s hall of fame basketball coach (and world-class curmudgeon) Jim Boeheim to handle some football recruiting.
The full transcript, for those without sound:
“(Jim) could be a basketball coach. He could be a football coach. The guy is a walking star. I had a situation where I -- we had a recruit come in, and I wasn’t on campus. He said he was going to come in one week, and he came in another week. And at the time, we didn’t have anyone on campus. And I called Jim Boeheim and said ‘can you meet with this young man?’... and told him the situation. He said, ‘Dino, I’ve got a tight schedule. It would have to be between this time and this time.
And sure enough, we got that kid there. And not only did he talk to him between this time and this time, but also extended time into it. He has been absolutely wonderful, and I’m just glad I got him as a resource, somebody I can bounce things off of.”
Soooooo many questions come from this, obviously. In order:
- Did they end up committing to Syracuse?
- Who was it?
- Did Boeheim just talk about Tom Coughlin a lot?
- Did Jim explain the art of a public insult?
- Was the player lectured on “knowing your business?”
- Is the player now a devotee to the 2-3 zone?
All kidding aside, it’s excellent that Boeheim -- obviously a long-time member of the Syracuse University community -- is able to fill in on something like that and help Dino make the sell on the program. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation, which likely would’ve contained complaints about Orange football’s lack of defense at current.
Dino and Jim are both treasures for unique reasons. And having both of them on campus right now is a gift we should make sure we appreciate in real-time. Not every school has two larger-than-life personalities like them (I mean, how many coaches call into local radio stations to talk about recruiting?).
Of course, there’s likely someone that finds this entertaining story problematic too, given Syracuse perceived troubles on the basketball recruiting trail? Did anyone listen into “On the Block” today?
75% chance that someone calls @BrentAxeMedia later to complain that Boeheim spending too much time on football recruiting. https://t.co/LyNG8dKcg0
— Dan Lyons (@Dan_Lyons76) July 13, 2017