As both Syracuse men’s and women’s basketball teams prepare for their respective trips to the Final Four, SU Director of Athletics Mark Coyle addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon. This year marks the sixth time the Orange’s men’s team has reached this point in the postseason and the first time for the women’s team.

Here are three notable things Coyle said on Tuesday.

Jim Boeheim’s contract situation is set in stone

SU Chancellor Kent Syverud announced in an email on March 18, 2015 that men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim would retire in three years. When asked about his contract situation on Tuesday, Coyle said there isn’t any wiggle room with the end of his contract, which is set to expire in two years at the end of the 2017-18 season.

“The plan before I was hired was that he would work through the three seasons,” Coyle said when asked if Boeheim could potentially keep coaching beyond those three years. “And he has two more seasons left on his current contract.”

“My current understanding of the agreement is that when his contract expires,” Coyle added, “that’s when it expires.”

Coyle’s travel plans

The men’s team will face No. 1 seed North Carolina on Saturday at 8:49 p.m. in Houston and the women’s team will face No. 7 seed Washington on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. in Indianapolis. Coyle said he plans on attending both games and both championship games, if SU reaches them.

He will be leaving with the men’s team on Wednesday following Syracuse’s pep rally in the mid-afternoon and spending the rest of the week in Houston until Sunday morning. That’s when he’ll travel to Indianapolis for the women’s game that night. Depending on whether or not the teams make the title game — the men’s would be on Monday night and the women’s would be on Tuesday night — he said he plans to go back and forth between the two cities. The flight from Houston to Indianapolis takes about two hours, per Google Maps.

“I’m going to have a busy schedule,” Coyle said. “… It’s a lot of travel back and forth. I can’t tell you how many of my peers I’ve heard from from across the country saying what an awesome experience and we feel really fortunate to have a chance. You work hard as an athletics director, you work hard as an athletic department and to say you work for a program that has two teams in the Final Four is a great experience.”

Women’s basketball attendance

For the first time in program history, SU’s women’s basketball team hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament two weekends ago. The Orange beat Army and Albany to advance to the Sweet 16. The Carrier Dome drew 2,445 people for the first day of the tournament on a Friday afternoon, which combined attendance for Syracuse-Army and Florida-Albany. The second-round game on Sunday between SU and Albany drew 3,842.

Syracuse averaged 1,018 fans per home game, including the two tournament games. Even with the boost from the postseason, SU ranked third-to-last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in attendance in front of only Clemson and Boston College, the conference’s two worst teams, which combined to go 2-30 in ACC play this season.

Coyle said “there’s no question” improving attendance at women’s basketball games is still on his agenda, but he was impressed with the turnout for the tournament.

“It was exciting to see that crowd there and I can tell you, my family said the Dome was rocking,” Coyle said. “Those go a long way in giving you home-court advantage. It’s a huge opportunity if you can host the first and second round on your court, you don’t need to travel, you can do those things. We definitely appreciate the support.”

Published on March 29, 2016 at 6:19 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds