Longtime Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim coached his final game on Wednesday at the ACC Tournament but wouldn’t initially confirm whether or not he was retiring.
Boeheim told reporters after the Orange were eliminated from the tournament that ultimately his future lies with the administrators of the university. It wasn’t until later in the evening that Boeheim’s retirement was confirmed and that Adrian Autry would become the new head coach.
On 670 The Score on Wednesday, Syracuse alum Danny Parkins reflected on his own interactions with Boeheim through the years as a student journalist. He said the good and the bad with Boeheim helped prepare him well.
“Really tough on you but he would treat you like pros,” Parkins said Wednesday on Parkins & Spiegel. “And he would say all the time, he’s like ‘We’re known for our basketball program and our journalism school. And so if these guys want to go be professional journalists I’m gonna treat em that way.'”
“He will let you into the press conferences, he used to let you into the practices,” Parkins added. “He could answer questions.”
It is the opposite of what we heard about Boeheim’s interactions with student journalists earlier this season. On an episode of The Sports Talkers podcast, Paul Finebaum told Stephen Strom that the coach’s behavior was “disgraceful”.
Parkins added that the time was right for Boeheim to call it a career.
“I like the guy, but it was well past time for him to go,” he said.
“I’m surprised with all that interaction with Syracuse media that more of you guys haven’t done anything successful in the business,” co-host Matt Spiegel joked.
