Syracuse University is set to lose the man that has led the Orange to five Big East Tournament championships, 28 NCAA tournament appearances, three national title game appearances and a 2003 NCAA Tournament Championship.
The university announced Wednesday that Jim Boeheim, the longtime men's basketball coach, will retire from his position in three seasons.
Boeheim, 70, originally joined Syracuse as an assistant in 1969 after graduating from the university in 1966. He worked under former head coach Roy Danforth until 1976 when a fruitless head coaching search ended with Boeheim promoted to the top spot, a position he has held since.
During his tenure as head coach, he has amassed an 858-333 overall record and a 47-28 NCAA Tournament record.
The Syracuse basketball program has dealt with numerous issues in what was already a down season by Boeheim and the university's high standard.
A self-imposed postseason ban - though it was unlikely Syracuse was headed to the NCAA Tournament this season anyway - preceded the handing down of NCAA sanctions for both academic and drug violations by the Syracuse athletics department, and specifically the men's basketball program.
The sanctions included a nine-game suspension for Boeheim to be served next season, the forfeiture of three scholarships, the vacating of all wins in which ineligible players participated from 2004 to 2012, the reduction of permissible off-campus recruiters and the return of all funds received from the university's participation in the Big East Conference tournament in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
"There's a lot of things to be said. It's difficult right now," Boeheim said in the wake of the sanctions, per Syracuse.com. "I think there's a hell of a battle ahead of us.
"I came here in 1962," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."
Whether of his own volition or not, that apparently, will not be the case for Boeheim.
