Following the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team’s loss to the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday, Jim Boeheim re-emphasized his plan to coach at Syracuse for the 2022-23 season. Boeheim has mentioned multiple times this season his intent to return to coach next fall. He hasn’t indicated otherwise.
Boeheim’s retirement has been a hot-button topic in recent years. His retirement was initially planned in 2015 as his career was expected to sunset following the 2017-18 season. That plan was scratched after the 2016-17 season when Mike Hopkins, the coach in waiting at Syracuse, took the head coaching position at Washington.
Given the retirement of ACC contemporaries Roy Williams last season and Mike Krzyzewski after this season, the intrigue seems to built around Boeheim’s retirement. That curiosity was on display following Saturday’s final (regular-season) matchup between Krzyzewski and Boeheim as a reporter queried Boeheim, asking if he indeed intended to return to Syracuse next fall.
“Who ever said I wasn’t?” Boeheim responded.
“You don’t need to ask,” Boeheim continued. “It’s been asked and answered 26,000 times. Every press conference I gave in the beginning of the year is I have no intentions of not coaching. I’ve said it 30 times.”
Syracuse sits with a 15-14 record and 9-9 in league play after Saturday’s loss. To date, Boeheim has never had a losing season.
“Because we’re having a bad year, you want me to quit? I don’t quit because we’re having a bad year,” He said.
Krzyzewski said Boeheim hasn’t mentioned anything to him about stepping away.
“He should coach as long as he wants. And as long as Juli let’s him. I’m sure that will have something to do with it,” Krzyzewski said. “We never talk about that.”
Boeheim has told incoming recruits he’ll be coaching next year. He also made mention of next year’s roster movements on his radio show this past week, stating that Buddy Boeheim, Jimmy Boeheim and Cole Swider will depart following this season. Buddy Boeheim and Swider could have an additional year of eligibility if they wanted it while Jimmy Boeheim would have to be granted an additional year by the NCAA, but the Syracuse head coach insists nothing has changed.
“I talked to Cole at the beginning of the year and he said he wanted to play here one year. I talked to Jimmy at the beginning of the year and he said he wanted to play here one year. I talked to Buddy numerous times, he said he wanted to finish this year. That’s how we’ve recruited. That’s what we’ve told everybody. That’s what’s going to happen. Nothing has changed, nobody has told me anything different. That’s why we’re trying to bring in six guys, or seven,” Boeheim said.
Syracuse will bring in a top-25 recruiting class for 2022, a five-player group that includes Chris Bunch, Justin Taylor, Quadir Copeland, Maliq Brown and Peter Carey. Bunch, Taylor and Carey were in attendance for the Duke game.
Syracuse class of 2022 recruits Justin Taylor, Peter Carey and Chris Bunch are in the building. pic.twitter.com/qu8Jt7Y2Tb
— James Szuba (@JamesSzuba) February 26, 2022
Syracuse is also pursuing Judah Mintz, a top-50 class of 2022 guard who decommited from Pittsburgh. Mintz was also in attendance for the Duke game. He expects to make a college decision in April.