Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim isn't ready to settle into a role as passive placeholder until the mandated three seasons he must log prior to his retirement runs out.
The 70-year-old Boeheim held a 45-minute press conference Wednesday and addressed a number of topics, ranging from the NCAA sanctions recently handed down to Syracuse following an investigation into apparent academic and drug violations by the men's basketball program and his pending departure from the team.
"This is far from a program where student-athletes freely committed academic fraud," Boeheim said of the NCAA's multi-year investigation and subsequent punishment, per ESPN. "I believe the penalty is unduly harsh."
As part of the NCAA's sanctions, Boeheim is suspended for the first nine ACC games next season. 12 scholarships have been taken away from the program and 108 wins have been vacated.
Boeheim said that he takes responsibility for the actions and failures of the players, coaches and support staff under him.
"I'll take the punishment. Today what's important is to handle what I have to do here. I am 70 years old. It's obvious there's a time frame for me as head coach. I feel that three years is right for me. Three years is probably longer than I was planning," Boeheim said.
"There's no way that I would ever run away from an investigation in progress. This investigation has made it imperative. This is the focus of my life."
Syracuse had self-imposed a postseason ban for this season, but it was a largely symbolic gesture as the usually formidable Orange basketball team was in the midst of an extremely poor season thanks to injuries and overall ineffective play.
Boeheim pointed to himself as a large part of the reason for the down year and said that while the plan for him is to coach for three more seasons, he'll walk away after next year if he can't return Syracuse to its usual spot among the elite teams in college basketball.
"I love coaching, and you can coach as long as you can be effective. I thought I was effective this year. I don't think I was as good as I would have liked to have been, but I think I was effective," Boeheim said. "If I'm not effective at the end of next year, I won't coach after next year. The three-year thing is the outside."
Boeheim, who took over the Syracuse program in 1976, said he "fervently hopes" that assistant coach Mike Hopkins will take the reins when he officially retires.
