Jim Boeheim will begin serving a nine-game suspension Saturday against Georgetown, after the NCAA announced Thursday that it has denied his appeal.

The nine-game suspension was part of the punishments issued by the NCAA on March 6, when a 94-page report detailed more than a decade of infractions. The NCAA Committee on Infractions found that Boeheim “failed to monitor his program,” which resulted in the lengthy suspension. The suspension was originally to be served at the start of conference play, but the NCAA “abused its discretion by directing the suspension be served during conference play,” Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president of public affairs, said in a release.

Before the 2015-16 season, Boeheim said he’d appealed all facets of the suspension he could, including the placement of the originally-scheduled start of Atlantic Coast Conference play and the length.

Quinn said the university is “pleased” the NCAA “recognized that the initial sanction imposed on Coach Boeheim was too harsh.”

“Nevertheless, we supported Coach Boeheim’s argument made during his hearing that any nine game suspension would be too severe based on previous cases, and his lack of involvement in the underlying conduct, which the Appeals Committee recognized,” Quinn said.

SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins, who was named the program’s head coach-in waiting this summer, will step in for Boeheim for the nine games. Hopkins’ first game will be Saturday at Georgetown.

“It’s not (Hopkins’) team. This is my team, I’ve coached them. If they lose, it’s because I didn’t coach them right, it’s not because he didn’t coach them right,” Boeheim said before the season. “… But Mike understands exactly what we do and how we do it, and no one is going to change what we’re doing for a game or two or three, or whatever it is.”

Turns out it will be nine, and Boeheim will be unable to talk with his players and assistant coaches during the suspension. He’s sounded off on this rule in the past few months, and the NCAA does not permit coaches to appeal that part of the punishment.

“So here I have three freshmen I’m coaching, I’m working with every day, they’re used to what I’m doing obviously and having me there with them,” Boeheim said in October. “The punishment is on me, and that’s taking away a game.

“That hurts them a little bit because I’m not there for that game, but I think it hurts them a lot more when I can’t be there the next game and say, you know, ‘Just relax and you should do this, you could do that.’”

Games that Boeheim will be able to coach that he previously would have been suspended for include when the Orange play at Duke on Jan. 18, at Virginia on on Jan. 23 and against Notre Dame on Jan. 28.

Boeheim’s appeal was not part of the university’s appeal, which was orally debated on Aug. 3. The results for that appeal softened the scholarship reductions for the men’s basketball team, going from 12 lost across four seasons to eight. But Boeheim will still vacate 101 wins and drop to sixth on the NCAA’s all-time coaching wins list.

NCAA Final Report on Boeheim's Appeal

Published on December 3, 2015 at 12:10 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse