Jim Boeheim, who has participated in the Syracuse University men’s basketball program since the Mesozoic Era, is no longer the head coach of the Orange. The university announced he would be replaced as head coach by associate head coach Adrian Autry. Boeheim was head coach for 47 seasons.
All told, he was part of Syracuse basketball in one way or another for about 60 years. Before becoming head coach in 1976, Boeheim was an assistant coach at Syracuse for seven years, and before that he played at Syracuse from 1963 to 1966.
Under Boeheim’s leadership, Syracuse made 35 NCAA tournament appearances and five Final Four appearances, and won the national championship in 2003 with Carmelo Anthony. Boeheim is the second-winningest Division I men’s basketball coach of all time, with 1,015 career wins. About half of Syracuse’s all-time wins occurred under Boeheim, and the school has sponsored men’s basketball since 1898.
He began as head coach at Syracuse the same year the NCAA legalized the slam dunk and ten years before the NCAA adopted the three-pointer. The NCAA tournament had only 32 teams in 1976, and the field has been expanded seven times since then. Syracuse’s home court was named after Boeheim 21 years ago, and he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame 18 years ago.
Boeheim’s tenure spanned nine U.S. presidential administrations, ten U.K. governments, and 27 Italian governments. The best-selling album in 1976 was Frampton Comes Alive! and the top-grossing movie was Rocky (the first one). He began as head coach the same year that philosopher Martin Heidegger died. Heidegger was born in 1889.
Jim Boeheim is one year, eleven months, and 28 days younger than Joe Biden.