are there any JB defenders left?

[grepal]

The school has also been very loyal to him. We went on probation not once but twice and there was never any talk about him getting fired. Both sides have been loyal. Jb is a wealthy man because of this arrangement.

That has nothing to do with my loyalty toward him. Think for a few minutes of all he has done for the community. Not just basketball but off the court. My loyalty has been earned. I do not give it away, this about a part of my entertainment. I love college hoops, especially Syracuse hoops.

 

[HOFCeluck]

That has nothing to do with my loyalty toward him. Think for a few minutes of all he has done for the community. Not just basketball but off the court. My loyalty has been earned. I do not give it away, this about a part of my entertainment. I love college hoops, especially Syracuse hoops.

Your love of Syracuse hoops is such that you’re ok with x number of seventeen win seasons until Boeheim decides on his own he’s had enough?

Ok I guess…

 

[grepal]

Your love of Syracuse hoops is such that you’re ok with x number of seventeen win seasons until Boeheim decides on his own he’s had enough?

Ok I guess…

My love for the team is unwaivering. Win or lose this is the teammy emotions are tied into. I am a Red Sox fan too. I love it when my teams win but I love the games for what they are, my entertainment.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I’ll field this one since I’m sure I count as a JB defender.

My vote going into the season was for him to leave after next year. So, the chasm between his defenders and haters or realists is roughly one whole season.

I wouldn’t mind either way if he leaves now or after next season. I don’t see him staying any longer than that.

No matter what happens, we’ll probably be mediocre for another 10 years or so.

The chasm is only “one whole season” if you ignore the last few whole seasons. Just because they are in the past doesn’t mean they didn’t matter.

I don’t understand not minding either way, whether he stays or goes. Oh, right—you expect us to remain the same with or without him. Which makes sense if we stick with continuity from the staff. I usually consider the Boeheimers to be the board ‘optimists,’ so I find it odd to see that there isn’t optimism for our potential in the future. I can only assume that’s because there’s some sort of ascription of superhumanity to JB, and a commitment of SU identity to him, which I find sad. For every minute of SU hoops I’ve watched since 1985, not one minute has been because of interest in JB. He has been at the helm for that duration, but my interest is in the players, and we will have players long after JB retires.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I support JB.

Still, I was hoping he would retire following the graduation of his sons.

I support the Program. At this point, JB is a handicap.

He really should have followed his sons. That would have been fitting, poetic, and possibly ‘earned,‘ though still overly generous and compromising.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I support the Program. At this point, JB is a handicap.

He really should have followed his sons. That would have been fitting, poetic, and possibly ‘earned,‘ though still overly generous and compromising.

In retrospect 2016 would’ve been ideal…but last year would’ve been a good time too.

Missed opportunity imo. Now it’s gonna be ugly.

 

[cuseinseattle]

5-10% of the fans. Brian Harrison on Twitter for sure lol.

That guy is wild. We land a 3 star project center and he is talking about how jab can still recruit at a high level

 

[TheCusian]

Yeah, we should all be JB defenders. Building what he did here for the 1000 wins in a HOF career shouldn’t be outweighed by sticking around 10 years too long.

He should retire so we can get on with celebrating what he did and forgetting this inglorious ending.

 

[Guinness]

I support JB.

Still, I was hoping he would retire following the graduation of his sons.

Would have been great to see him leave with his boys.

I think most fans love what he has meant to the University, the program he has built and are thankfully for everything he has done, while at the same time understanding it's time.

 

[pearl31]

entertainment

uh

 

[RF2044]

Would have been great to see him leave with his boys.

I think most fans love what he has meant to the University, the program he has built and are thankfully for everything he has done, while at the same time understanding it's time.

Perfectly stated.

 

[IthacaMatt]

No matter what happens, we’ll probably be mediocre for another 10 years or so.

NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO!!!

How many other BASKETBALL teams take TEN YEARS for a rebuild?

What the hell is wrong with yotu?

A good coach who can recruit, and the portal. You can rebuild a team in two years with someone who knows what they're doing.

It's only this insistence that we hire someone with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE as a head coach before than even makes this a conversation at all.

Only an idiot would encourage the hiring of a guy who has never been a head coach before, when faced with the biggest hire of Wildhack's tenure.

 

[SUGIANT]

i dont read this board as much as i used to (having a 3 yr old will do that) , but in the past whenever boeheim got criticized or soneone wanted him gone there were always posters running to his defense saying “ he built syracuse basketball, hes in the hall of fame, we made the final 4 recently, he deserves to leave whenever he wants, youll be sorry when hes gone, etc etc”

surely theres not any of those people left is there?? even the most committed jb defenders have gotta admit his a$$ has gotsta go.

and dont call me surely.

I support JB, I don’t think his a$$ needs to go. I think everyone needs to be careful what they wish for. I also think he deserves going out on his own terms. I think there’s others like me also, I’ve been watching for 30+ years and it’s the same BS throughout his whole career. He’s been the best coach this program and most programs have ever seen. things will work out in the end, I’m not sure the program will be better for it though.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I'm not sure if I'm a JB defender but I'm not interested in forcing him out. If the two choices are retire end of next season or force out end of this I pick the first.

 

[Day2]

I support JB, I don’t think his a$$ needs to go. I think everyone needs to be careful what they wish for. I also think he deserves going out on his own terms. I think there’s others like me also, I’ve been watching for 30+ years and it’s the same BS throughout his whole career. He’s been the best coach this program and most programs have ever seen. things will work out in the end, I’m not sure the program will be better for it though.

While I agree that he deserves to go out on his own terms, I don’t anticipate his replacement struggling…as long as his replacement is an outside hire from a national search.

That said, he had a bad day at the office yesterday. I’ll leave it at that.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

In retrospect 2016 would’ve been ideal…but last year would’ve been a good time too.

Missed opportunity imo. Now it’s gonna be ugly.

That’s the thing: if he did want to retire without all the attention and fanfare of ‘goodbye’ tributes and such at every away arena his last year… that makes sense. Personally, we’re it me, I’d want to just ‘slip away’ the same way. But, not announcing an end to this is just stoking the fires. At my most fervent, I am not a Boeheim fan, but thought he deserved the right to not be fired, and I even acknowledged he may have earned the gift if staying for Jimmy to transfer in, even if that cost us Quincy. Had that been the end of it, I’d have still held a positive sentiment for him. Not the biggest fan, but respectful and somewhat grateful.

This, though—he has rewritten any reasonable story and it is already ugly. There is genuine, valid anger. It’s a PR nightmare, with no signs of it getting better. This is not the way to control the narrative, and that’s equally on JB and AW.

 

[DilemaCuse]

I support JB, I don’t think his a$$ needs to go. I think everyone needs to be careful what they wish for. I also think he deserves going out on his own terms. I think there’s others like me also, I’ve been watching for 30+ years and it’s the same BS throughout his whole career. He’s been the best coach this program and most programs have ever seen. things will work out in the end, I’m not sure the program will be better for it though.

Be careful what we wish for? What we won't continue to finish 9th in the ACC? Is that what we are still holding onto? Are you not paying attention?

 

[Brooky03]

The chasm is only “one whole season” if you ignore the last few whole seasons. Just because they are in the past doesn’t mean they didn’t matter.

I don’t understand not minding either way, whether he stays or goes. Oh, right—you expect us to remain the same with or without him. Which makes sense if we stick with continuity from the staff. I usually consider the Boeheimers to be the board ‘optimists,’ so I find it odd to see that there isn’t optimism for our potential in the future. I can only assume that’s because there’s some sort of ascription of superhumanity to JB, and a commitment of SU identity to him, which I find sad. For every minute of SU hoops I’ve watched since 1985, not one minute has been because of interest in JB. He has been at the helm for that duration, but my interest is in the players, and we will have players long after JB retires.

Buckle in.

My interest is in the entirety of the Syracuse basketball program. I’m not really sure where to begin with your post. The fact remains that the current day difference is that one cohort wants JB out now and one wants him out in a season. The fact that some have wanted him out years ago doesn’t change that.

There are a few factors that I guess put me in the JB fanboy club or whatever you guys want to characterize it as. One, there really never was a compelling reason why Syracuse, NY was good at college basketball. We’re not particularly close to the large east coast cities, we rarely have homegrown talent, Syracuse itself is nothing special (to put it nicely), and before the Carrier Dome there was nothing about the facilities to write home about. We had very erratic success with some of the coaches before JB, but he’s clearly the biggest reason Syracuse basketball ever became what we know Syracuse basketball to be. So, that’s point one. Yeah, I know, I know; you can’t let him hold the program hostage and yada yada. Would we have been as good or better over these almost 50 years with a different coach or coaches? Maybe. Probably not, but maybe. We don’t know that, though. We know this.

Point two is that this has not been a 9 season slide. The NCAAT matters. It matters more than the regular season by a decent margin. All factors considered, this has been about a 4 season slide, with a S16 run in there. During JB’s prime, the odd poor season or two would pop up. There was no reason to fire him prior to the 2020 season, imo; at least not for performance. His bad seasons would be followed by good seasons, with no back to back bad seasons. 2020 was a bad season but not reason to fire him on the spot, even considering the seasons prior, imo. 2021 was the S16. Nobody fires a coach coming off a S16 (nobody should, at least). ‘22 was bad and the end of that season marked the point when a forced resignation would have been reasonable.

Three: the sanctions messed everything up and the sanctions largely fell on an inept athletic department, not a rogue or cheating or turning a blind eye coach. I know the facts of the case. I know the NCAA’s findings. That wasn’t JB. I don’t care to argue this point. That wasn’t on him and he seemingly made a commitment to try to get the program back from a mini-death penalty.

Four: His coaching is still good. His recruiting sucks. The fact that he’d still win if he had the talent advantage is what always gave me hope. I always hoped that the recruits, ranked lower than we’d like, would surprise. They mostly have not. And they tend to leave before any meaningful development could occur.

It’s clear that the recruiting isn’t going to pick up and a transfer portal savior ain’t coming. That’s on JB and that’s ultimately why I finally got to the point of being cool with his departure. He hasn’t adjusted to the new recruiting/transfer landscape and his style isn’t conducive to getting a team full of first year guys and incomplete upperclassmen up to speed quick enough. Next season is already lost, so I’m indifferent to that departure being now or then.

 

[cuseinseattle]

The irony is so many of the overly negative people on here who are complaining the loudest are the same people that brought out their pitch forks for Hopkins after 9 games. Maybe if that hadn't happened he would have been more willing to work through things and Boeheim could have come around to retiring. Then we would have had a head coach with energy who is a great east coast recruiter. That was our best chance for a good transition. Every thing that has happened since has been very predictable.

 

[djcon57]

The irony is so many of the overly negative people on here who are complaining the loudest are the same people that brought out their pitch forks for Hopkins after 9 games. Maybe if that hadn't happened he would have been more willing to work through things and Boeheim could have come around to retiring. Then we would have had a head coach with energy who is a great east coast recruiter. That was our best chance for a good transition. Every thing that has happened since has been very predictable.

Yes, it’s the fans fault. Good lord, this is a take.

Let me give you a hint. HE WAS NEVER RETIRING

 

[Eric15]

Point two is that this has not been a 9 season slide. The NCAAT matters. It matters more than the regular season by a decent margin. All factors considered, this has been about a 4 season slide, with a S16 run in there.

Come on man it absolutely unequivocally is a 9 season slide. The 2014-15 season (perhaps even the end of the 2013-14 season) is precisely when we stopped playing conference games as a ranked team and started finishing at or below .500 every single year in conference play. The data couldn't be more straightforward.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Yes, it’s the fans fault. Good lord, this is a take.

Let me give you a hint. HE WAS NEVER RETIRING

I don't agree if Hopkins had been in play I think he would have retired already.

 

[djcon57]

I don't agree if Hopkins had been in play I think he would have retired already.

but he was in play.

 

[DilemaCuse]

I support JB, I don’t think his a$$ needs to go. I think everyone needs to be careful what they wish for. I also think he deserves going out on his own terms. I think there’s others like me also, I’ve been watching for 30+ years and it’s the same BS throughout his whole career. He’s been the best coach this program and most programs have ever seen. things will work out in the end, I’m not sure the program will be better for it though.

On the flip side if JB is coaching next year, right now the odds are that the product will be worse then better, so the whole be careful what you wish for works both ways. It's silly to keep the status quo.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Come on man it absolutely unequivocally is a 9 season slide. The 2014-15 season (perhaps even the end of the 2013-14 season) is precisely when we stopped playing conference games as a ranked team and started finishing at or below .500 every single year in conference play. The data couldn't be more straightforward.

I dont agree on the end of 13-14.