Syracuse Basketball: Jim Boeheim not alone needing years to win NCAAs
By Neil Adler
Syracuse basketball boss Jim Boeheim is among many head coaches who took a ton of years to capture a title.
Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim has served at the helm of the Orange for 44 seasons, all of them winning ones at that, yet plenty of ‘Cuse fanatics slam him for not having claimed more than one NCAA championship.
While I always respect the opinions of others, for me, that kind of criticism is unfair. Boeheim built up a regional program on the Hill and turned it into a national powerhouse.
He’s reached five Final Fours and cut down the nets in 2003. Frankly, if not for some unluckiness, Boeheim could easily have one or two more NCAA crowns. See 1987, 2010, 2012 or 2013, for example.
And although it took Boeheim a great many years to get his natty, he’s not alone in this regard. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander published a really interesting piece last week that examined the 32 national title-winning head coaches dating back almost 60 years to when John Wooden got his inaugural one at UCLA.
Norlander found that “almost all of these guys were running programs for at least 10 years before they won the NCAA Tournament.”
Syracuse basketball leader Jim Boeheim isn’t the only head coach to take 20-plus years to win the NCAAs.
In the article, there are nine guys who served as a head coach for a minimum of two decades before collecting the Big Dance’s grand prize.
Boeheim and former Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun top Norlander’s list, with 27 terms each in charge of a program prior to winning it all. Others in this group of nine are Gary Williams with Maryland, Lute Olson with Arizona, Jay Wright with Villanova, Jerry Tarkanian with UNLV, Norm Sloan with N.C. State, Dean Smith with North Carolina, and John Calipari with Kentucky.
Yes, some of these other guys have since gotten at least one more national championship, and Boeheim hasn’t. And other head coaches with multiple titles – such as Roy Williams with North Carolina, Mike Krzyzewski with Duke, and Billy Donovan with Florida – also took fewer years than Boeheim to notch that first one.
Conversely, in Boeheim’s favor, he had advanced to two Final Fours before emerging victorious in the NCAA Tournament, and he got to two additional national semi-finals after 2003. Numerous head coaches in Norlander’s story can’t say they’ve done this.
It’s challenging enough just to get to a Final Four, let alone a couple of them. Securing an NCAA title is even more difficult. And possessing several national championships is a stellar achievement.
Boeheim may only have one NCAA crown, and every Syracuse basketball fanatic hopes he lands a second one before riding off into the sunset. But even if he doesn’t, Boeheim is still among the finest head coaches ever in the history of collegiate hoops.