Jim Boeheim Comments on NCAA's Sanctions Against Syracuse

The Syracuse Orange basketball program already appealed NCAA sanctions levied against it, but head coach Jim Boeheim made his feelings on the entire situation clear in a conversation with Tommy Tomlinson of ESPN.com.   

For context, the NCAA announced in March that 108 of Syracuse’s victories from 2004-12 would be vacated because of the appearances of ineligible players. There were also reportedly instances of academic fraud and players who failed drug tests and were not subsequently held out of practices and games despite Syracuse’s written policy.   

What’s more, a booster provided cash to two basketball players and three football players for volunteer work.   

The vacated victories were one thing, but the NCAA also suspended Boeheim for the first nine ACC games of the next season and cut three basketball scholarships a year for the following four years.

Tomlinson noted the coach believes the punishments were harsh and that the NCAA made an example of his school to warn others against the perils of cheating: “I think we feel the punishment has been excessive, and it's the first time a head coach was really charged with the monitoring part and been so severely punished.”

Boeheim also questioned the very definition of some of the NCAA’s language: "I didn't commit a violation in eight years of investigation, and obviously they tried to find everything that was there, as they should. I'm guilty of not monitoring, which is a very nebulous term. Nobody has defined it. What does that mean?"

At least the coach provided Syracuse fans who are particularly worried about the reduced scholarship numbers a silver lining, per Mike Waters of Syracuse.com: “When asked about the reduced numbers, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim recently said, ‘We won a national title with eight guys. We'll be fine.’”

That title came in 2003, when the Orange won with a rotation that primarily consisted of eight players (and nine scholarships). It helped that one of those players was Carmelo Anthony, but at least the precedent is there.

While Syracuse has that past success to fall back on as an example of how to win without much depth, it would clearly be better for the program if the sanctions were not an issue. If you ask Boeheim, they aren’t even fair in the first place.