Bernie Fine: Jim Boeheim Must Meet the Same Fate as Joe Paterno

How can Jim Boeheim not be removed amidst these allegations that look more like facts with each passing day?

I think it is an unfortunate and sad inevitability, but a necessary evolution out of an era of collegiate sports that makes gods out of legendary coaches and potential victims out of the young people they are contracted to mentor and protect.

It appears that Boeheim may have been less aware of his assistant's alleged behavior than Joe Paterno was of the alleged actions of Jerry Sandusky. Still, if true, it is almost impossible that he never caught wind of such a thing.

Syracuse Chief of Police Frank Fowler says they knew about the allegations of child molestation as far back as 2002, when his predecessor was in charge.

Police did not follow up or generate a report, because according to the report from KTLA:

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The detective told Davis the statute of limitations had run out so authorities could not make an arrest, but he urged him to turn over additional information about other victims.

"It was decided that unless the victim met with the detective or the victim was able to provide names of other victims, then an investigation would not be initiated," Fowler said in a statement.

Those conditions were not met so an investigation was never initiated and a report never created.

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Now, because of this technicality, an alleged predator gets to go free and potentially hurt more children. The big question in this situation is, how much did Boeheim know? For a man so entrenched in a program for nearly 40 years to be completely oblivious to these allegations seems unrealistic.

He even said in a previous comment: 

"This is a kid that came up with all this stuff and it was all looked into for four months. The only new thing is his (relative) has come forward."

That proves he knew something, and media outlets—including ESPN—knew something. It seems impossible that Boeheim was completely unaware.

Is Boeheim a monster? Probably not, but he is responsible for the actions of his subordinates, especially if it affects or is related to the basketball program.

He supported Fine, and now, if the allegations are true, he must pay the price for his lack of action, just as Paterno did.