Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon, and the notion of cloning him seems perfectly appropriate.
I’ve gone on record, over and over again, in saying that I cherish Syracuse basketball boss Jim Boeheim.
Sure, some journalists view him as standoffish and stodgy. There are those in the ‘Cuse hoops community who want him to call it quits, arguing that the 2-3 zone is antiquated, recruiting has declined, and SU is in the midst of a stretch where relatively pedestrian regular seasons are the norm.
Fine. Whatever.
Boeheim has the second-most victories in the history of Division I men’s basketball. He’s never put forth a losing season. The Orange captured the NCAA championship in 2003, and it has reached five Final Fours, two additional Elite Eights, and a boatload of Sweet 16s under Boeheim’s watch.
If that’s not good enough for a portion of Syracuse fanatics in Central New York and around the country, oh well. You can’t make everyone happy.
No official schedule has gotten set for when Boeheim might ride off into the sunset. Myself and others who cover ‘Cuse basketball have hypothesized that perhaps Boeheim will end his reign once his son, rising sophomore guard Buddy Boeheim, finishes his career on the Hill.
Maybe. But, maybe not.
On Monday, well-respected national reporter Adam Zagoria contributed a piece to Syracuse.com about SU associate head coach Adrian Autry, who is currently leading the 2019 USA East Coast unit, which includes rising sophomore point guard Jalen Carey, on a three-contest tour in Greece.
"In Zagoria’s article, Autry unsurprisingly states that his “ultimate goal” is to become a head coach at the collegiate level. Jim Boeheim, meanwhile, said of Autry in that story, “I think that he will and should be a head coach soon. I’m going to coach for a while. I’m not going to get out. I’m not even thinking about it. I think I’ll just keep coaching, but I think he’ll be a head coach very soon someplace. He could certainly be the head coach at Syracuse, too.”The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, in response to the Zagoria report, sent out a hilarious tweet: “Jim Boeheim will coach for as long as it takes to develop cloning technology. As soon as they are capable of cloning 70-year-old Boeheim so he can live on as Syracuse coach into eternity, that is when Boeheim 1 will retire, and we will be gifted Boeheim 2 as Syracuse successor.”"
That, my friends, is a wonderful idea, and I truly hope that it transpires. I’d prefer to see Boeheim roam the Orange sidelines forever. I guess my only question is: would Boeheim 1 receive credit for all of Boeheim 2’s conquests? That has to happen, so JB may accumulate more successes than every other head coach in the sport – combined.