Jim Boeheim should already have statue, says former Syracuse assistant

Jim Boeheim’s retirement on Wednesday sent waves throughout college basketball.

A 47-year run as the head coach of the Orange came to an end with Syracuse crashing out of the ACC Tournament in its opening game, a clunky postgame press conference, and then a press release announcing the departure that notably lacked any kind of comment from Boeheim himself.

Though Syracuse labored through the 2022-23 season and finished 17-15, Boeheim’s retirement caught many by surprise.

Mike Hopkins, a former Boeheim assistant and current Washington head coach, reacted to the news after his own team dropped out of the Pac-12 Tournament.

“Very few people can do it for a long time, but 50 years at one university is pretty special,” Hopkins said. “He’s given his heart and soul to that school. I’m still surprised they don’t have a statue made of him in the middle of campus. When you think of Syracuse University, you think of Jim Boeheim and you think of the Carrier Dome, and now both of those will be gone, which is very sad. One of the greats.”

Hopkins was an assistant on the bench for Boeheim for over 20 years before taking over at Washington. A Syracuse grad, Hopkins returned as an assistant coach in 1995. At one point, he was viewed as the successor to Boeheim, even serving as interim coach during the 2015-16 season.

UW closed out its season with a loss to Colorado on Wednesday, ending the year 16-16. Hopkins has seen his own seat grow hotter as the year has unfolded.

But he won’t be coming back to Syracuse. The Orange named associate head coach Adrian Autry as Boeheim’s replacement on Wednesday. Autry has been on the staff since 2011.