Syracuse University announced Wednesday that Jim Boeheim will coach three more years, through the 2017-18 season, before presumably turning over the keys to the Melo Center to longtime coach-in-waiting Mike Hopkins.
The university made the out-of-the-blue announcement on the same day that it announced the resignation of athletic director Daryl Gross, and the appointment of senior associate director of athletics, and longtime university employee Pete Sala as the interim AD.
Boeheim stood at 966 career victories in his 39 seasons running the program, until the NCAA vacated 108 of those victories in light of its long term investigation into the program that concluded with the announced penalties on March 6.
The NCAA also suspended Boeheim for the first nine games of next year’s ACC schedule, and the university also announced Wednesday that it will appeal both the 108 vacated victories, and the loss of 12 scholarships over a four year period.
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If that appeal turns out to be successful down the road, Boeheim could be in a position to officially win his 1000th game sometime during the middle season of the three more years he plans to coach.
In what should be an interesting and sure to be somewhat emotional press conference Thursday morning at the Dome (10:00 a.m. ET), Coach Boeheim will be in the spotlight as he speaks about the long awaited plans on how his career will wind down by his 42nd season in 2017-18, the school’s NCAA appeal and any options he may be pursuing, and perhaps clear up exactly who his successor will be and how that topic is being handled on the recruiting trail.
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