Alex McCarty
I. Introduction
a. There is only one coach in NCAA history who has more than 880 wins with a single school, and that is Jim Boeheim with Syracuse University
b. Jim Boeheim was born in Lyons, New York on November 17th 1944. As a kid, he was always known as skinny and un-athletic. But with determination, Boeheim took on basketball and played for the Lyons high school varsity team.
c. As a senior Boeheim lead his team to the Section V Class AA championship where they lost to East Rochester 58-57 in double overtime, leaving a devastating end to Boeheim’s high school career.
d. In the Fall of 1962 Boeheim enrolled at Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in social science, and also made the basketball team as a walk on. By his senior year he became the team captain and with the help of the All-American Dave Bing, lead Syracuse to a 22-6 overall record, earning Syracuse’s second ever NCAA tournament berth.
e. After graduating in 1966 Boeheim attempted to go pro and became the Chicago Bulls’ final cut. Boeheim then took his talents to the Eastern Professional Basketball League and briefly played for the Scranton Miners, where he won two championships.
II. Body
a. Jim Boeheim may not have had the most remarkable career as a basketball player, however majority of his achievements come from being a coach.
b. Jim Boeheim began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Syracuse under Roy Danforth. In 1972 Jim Boeheim was assigned as a full-time assistant coach at Syracuse and helped guide the team to its first Final Four appearance in 1975.
c. After the 1975 season Roy Danforth left Syracuse to coach at Tulane University. Syracuse turned to Boeheim and promoted him to head coach, though he wasn’t Syracuse’s first choice, it’s hard to imagine a better choice. Jim Boeheim spent his entire adult life associated with Syracuse: as an undergrad, an assistant coach, and head coach.
d. In his first season, Boeheim had a 26-4 record, becoming the fifth best ever for a coach in his first year. Being a believer in the fast break offense, Boeheim consistently produced high-scoring, crowd-pleasing teams.
e. In 37 seasons as head coach of Syracuse, Boeheim has never had a losing season, and has lead his team to postseason berths every year, either NCAA or NIT, except one season (lack of institutional control)
f. After building the program for several years and implementing the 2-3 zone, which is one of the simpler alignments in basketball, Boeheim’s teams executed the defense near-perfection. Boeheim made it to the National Championship game in 1987 against Indiana. Unfortunately, Indiana stunned Syracuse with a last-second shot to win. Shortly after, Boeheim was offered a position as head coach with Ohio State, but turned it down to stay at Syracuse.
g. Boeheim reached the National Championship again in 1996, however falling short to a Kentucky team coached by former Syracuse assistant, and present Louisville coach Rick Pitino. Boeheim became in danger of becoming “the coach that can’t win the big one”
h. That changed in 2003 when Boeheim landed the highly ranked recruit Carmelo Anthony, helping Carmelo Anthony produce one of the best freshman seasons in NCAA history and finally earning the National Championship. The program was on top of the world thanks to Boeheim. The recruiting was the best it could be and Syracuse was now considered a national powerhouse.
i. In 2005 Boeheim achieved the ultimate basketball tribute when he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and receiving John Wooden’s “Legends of Coaching” Award in April of that year.
j. Boeheim can also be seen on the bench of the USA Men’s Basketball program, were in 2001 he was named USA Basketball National Coach of the year after leading the Young Men’s Team to a gold medal at the World Championship in Japan. In 2005 Boeheim was selected to be the assistant for the US Senior Men’s team, winning two gold medals in Beijing and London.
k. The four-time Big East Coach of the Year earned his first Coach of the Year award in 2010 after leading Syracuse to an unexpected 30-5 record.
l. Along with being a legendary coach, Boeheim is a contributor of many charitable causes, and started the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation this past year. The foundation strives to enrich lives of kids in need within the Central New York community and provide support for eliminating cancer through research.
III. Conclusion
a. Jim Boeheim is Syracuse Basketball. The 2013-2014 season will be his 51st season at Syracuse. He currently holds 920 wins, placing him second on the all-time wins list of Men’s Division I coaches. Jim Boeheim is a man of character and he is a role model for many young athletes and coaches around the world, Syracuse basketball was already a respectable program, but Boeheim made it a household name.
References
https://www.suathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=670&path=mbasket
http://basketball.about.com/od/coaches/p/boeheim.htm
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/assets/pdf/A21981691215.PDF
http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/boeheimj.shtml 