Depending on your allegiances, belief system or feelings for a certain individual, you either think the Syracuse Orange got hammered by the NCAA or received little more than a slap on the wrist. Regardless, with Syracuse not being eligible for this year’s postseason; losing three scholarships a year over four years; and Jim Boeheim being stripped of many wins, things have changed.
Don’t tell some of the national media that, however.
Boeheim has been a beloved figure in the eyes of national media for decades. Despite his sometimes dismissive approach to dealing with the media — tellingly, the questions they asked about this particular NCAA investigation over a decade — and being more condescending than your high school trigonometry teacher telling you that you’re a loser (wait… that’s just me?), many have propped up the Boeheim mythology over the years.
There are reasons for it too. It is not as though Boeheim was gifted a free pass by some members of the media for no being a witty fellow. He is a philanthropist, has won a lot of games, and can be rather charming when he wants to be. More so, he has seemed to use his charm on the right people over many decades.
The latest example of Boeheim getting the benefit of the doubt was Dick Vitale. He was the best character defense witness friends can buy when he went on ESPN Saturday evening to tell the free world that the Orange coach is not a cheater. Nearly all the points Dickie V made were based off Boeheim as a person, not necessarily a coach. That’s fine too. You can be a good person and, you know, be a cheater as well. It’s okay, I promise. The two are not mutually exclusive. It does happen to ignore the fact that what Boeheim did do was technically cheating. So, yeah.
Still, the elevated pedestal reserved for Boeheim is a wee-bit unsettling. While guys like Larry Brown and John Calipari are viewed in one light because of instances of misconduct or perceived misconduct, Boeheim — now a two-time loser — is being given a general smile and nod by his national media buddies yet again.
Things may have changed on Saturday, however. As much as some will defend Boeheim regardless, Grumpy Uncle Jim decided to skip his postgame presser. The natural assumption is that he wanted to avoid answering questions he has long dismissed. For him, such questions were and are the product of reporters being gossip-mongers.
The media, unlike any other entity, dislikes it when you ignore them. See Marshawn Lynch for an example of that. However, if Boeheim is given a free pass yet again, now for skipping a presser, it will be very telling on multiple levels — which is a different discussion for a different time.
Essentially, Boeheim has spent a large portion of time over the years berating media members for asking him about the NCAA investigation. He’s called people names, talking down to anyone who dared to call out the character of the man himself, and has been something much less than an adult.
It is weird, though, that while Boeheim’s defiance of those who question him should be pushed to the wayside, it is only now that Boeheim has chosen to go the silent route. It is basically a sucker’s move to duck out on something like a presser only after being punished by the governing body of college sports, while every other time — before actual proof — Boeheim would do no such thing.
It’s like your children yelling back after you asked if they stole a cookie out of the jar. Usually you just take their word for it, but this time their shirts are covered in crumbs. Boeheim, now covered in misconduct crumbs, is as silent as your four-year-old who has some chocolate chip stain on her shirt.
There’s no need to worry about the Orange taking this lying down. The NCAA putting some sanctions on the university has not stopped Syracuse from keeping up the Boeheim tradition of being surly. The school released a statement which basically said that the investigation took too long. SU also worded things in such a way that puts the blame for these sanctions on the NCAA instead of its coach and others in charge.
One of my more favorite phrases from those in or around the university: “NCAA Sanctions cost Syracuse…” Um, no. The investigation done by the NCAA was brought about by people in charge of your program, people who gave the NCAA cause to look into several matters. So no, the NCAA did not cost your program anything. Jim Boeheim and others cost your program.
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No matter where you sit on this matter, some things need to be separated here, the things we should be doing with all coaches and players in all sports. Being a good coach or player doesn’t mean you are a great person or do things the right way. Vitale has, unfortunately, been stuck in the “good coach = ethical person” trap for a long time. This simplistic outlook holds that successful coaches are the ones doing it the right way — even more specifically, coaches who have been around for a long time in one place. If a guy jumps around a bit or doesn’t cater to the idea of everything holy, then that guy is deemed not as awesome.
None of this should even matter as much as I am making it out to be. What Syracuse did is likely happening at many other programs throughout the country. It just so happens that Boeheim is older, a legendary coach who is nearing the end of his run at a powerhouse program. It now seems that his years of treating those who ask questions against him are over, for no other reason than being caught for the very things that made him defiant to many for so long. All of which makes for good fodder, I guess.
Going forward, though, I do have some hope: That we stop treating the successful as gods of their industry just because they are good at something. That we no longer allow people to berate others because a few of their more powerful colleagues have an affinity for that person. And that, most importantly, the evident brokenness of the NCAA system does not mean the realm of college sports should be run like the Wild West. This will likely be the excuse given when fans of Syracuse defend their — now two-time — loser head coach.
But hey, people like him, so none of this matters, right? So, um, let’s go call John Calipari a sleazeball again or something.
