University Politics

Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud ‘wasn’t bothered’ by Jim Boeheim’s comments on retirement announcement

Daily Orange File Photo

Syverud said in a recent interview with The Daily Orange that he didn’t take issue with Boeheim’s comments about retirement.

Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud said he had no problem with Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim saying last month that Syverud made a mistake in publicly announcing Boeheim’s retirement plans in 2015.

In an email to the campus community in March 2015, Syverud said that Boeheim planned to retire at the end of the 2017-18 season. The announcement was made shortly after the basketball program was dealt sanctions as a result of multiple NCAA violations committed by SU Athletics, including “(Boeheim’s) failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance.”

Last month, though, the university extended Boeheim’s contract past the 2017-18 season. In a press conference after the extension was announced, Boeheim said he “did not want to make it public” in 2015 that he planned to retire in 2018. But Syverud overruled him.

“I thought that was a mistake, because it hurts recruiting,” he said. “Because I don’t run things here, I was overruled. It was fine. We worked through it.”

In his first public comments on Boeheim since then, Syverud said in a recent interview with The Daily Orange that he didn’t take issue with Boeheim’s comments.



“I have great respect for anybody who has to appear before the press after every game and on a regular basis,” Syverud said. “I think we have a great basketball coach and a great athletic director, so I wasn’t bothered by that.”





Top Stories