Jim Boeheim walks back claims that Wake Forest, Pitt 'bought' teams through NIL
Jim Boehiem caused quite a stir with his most recent ESPN interview. The Syracuse head coach quickly walked back some things he said about 2 of his ACC peers.
Boehiem recently discussed a range of topics with ESPN’s Pete Thamel. He notably said that Wake Forest and Pittsburgh had “bought” their teams through NIL.
“This is an awful place we’re in in college basketball,” Boehiem said. “Pittsburgh bought a team. OK, fine. My [big donor] talks about it, but he doesn’t give anyone any money. Nothing. Not one guy. Our guys make like $20,000. Wake Forest bought a team. Miami bought a team. … It’s like, ‘Really, this is where we are?’ That’s really where we are, and it’s only going to get worse.”
Demon Deacons coach Steve Forbes called Boehiem “1000% wrong” for his assessment of the Wake Forest roster.
Just in: Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes tells CBS Sports about Jim Boeheim claiming Wake Forest “bought a team:
“He’s wrong. He’s one thousand percent wrong. I don’t have one player on my team that got NIL to come here. That’s a fact. I’ve NEVER had a player come here for NIL.”
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 5, 2023
Early Sunday, not long after the article was originally posted at 10:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Boehiem walked back his comments about Wake Forest and Pitt, saying he misspoke.
Update: Jim Boeheim followed up with ESPN to say that he “absolutely misspoke” about Wake Forest and Pitt buying teams, as the only public usage of NIL he knew about was Miami’s, which was highly publicized. He said he “shouldn’t have” included Wake and Pitt in his statement. https://t.co/yQXKRYEAG3
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 5, 2023
Forbes shared that he heard from Boeheim.
Update: Steve Forbes just called and told me Boeheim reached out to him and walked back his statement/claim from yesterday. https://t.co/ebpItTHom4
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 5, 2023
Syracuse travels to Pittsburgh on Feb. 25 and hosts Wake Forest on March 4.
