Syracuse's head coach will address the media Thursday at 10 a.m.
Right before everyone was set to lose their minds and give their #hottake on Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud's Wednesday morning e-mail newsletter, which announced the news of Daryl Gross going from athletic director to college professor at the school and the new timetable for the retirement of men's basketball head coach Jim Boeheim, the ol' coach was doing work, according to a Syracuse.com's Donna Ditota.
Before Syracuse University publicly acknowledged basketball coach Jim Boeheim would be retiring in three years, the Orange coach reached out to a key recruit in the Class of 2016.
"He called me about 15 minutes ago and told me," said Gary Battle, father of 5-star recruit Tyus Battle. "He just said he wanted to give us a call and not have us hear it on TV."
Gary Battle had said one of the key components in his son's interest in Syracuse was Boeheim's position as the head coach. Battle said today that Boeheim's reitirement would not alter the way Tyus viewed Syracuse.
(Before anyone goes on a rant about how this latest news will KILL Syracuse's recruiting, take a second to realize that assistant coach Mike Hopkins does a lot of the recruiting already and his the other assistant coaches are very good at their jobs too. There's a chance not having Boeheim's name could hurt recruiting, as will the new recruiting restrictions handed down by the NCAA, but this will not KILL Syracuse's recruiting.)
Not only is Boeheim still doing his thing on the recruiting trail–you could argue he's just doing the right thing too–he is going to speak to the media Thursday at 10 a.m. ET about the program's future plans, which involve him stepping down within the next three years.
So, just so you know, on Thursday college basketball fans are going to get a Jim Boeheim press conference at the Carmelo K. Anthony Center that will be the opening act to the first real day of the NCAA Tournament!! TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!
What Boeheim will media members get tomorrow? Well, we will see. I have a feeling it will be a balance of heat-felt Boehiem, who spoke during the Bernie Fine saga, and tight-lipped Boeheim, who can't speak much on the NCAA penalties because of an impending appeal. Either way, Syracuse fans should get some answer from James Arthur. We just don't know how many.
