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Men's Basketball

Jim Boeheim on unofficial 1,000 wins: ‘I know how many wins I’ve had’

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Over his 41-year career, Jim Boeheim has led Syracuse to 899 official wins and 1,000 unofficial wins.

By Connor GrossmanSenior Staff Writer

With the Carrier Dome court swallowed by a sea of Syracuse fans, Jim Boeheim took his time leaving the floor. As he passed by several signs with his name juxtaposed next to the number 1,000, he stopped to give high-fives before disappearing into the tunnel.

The crowd showered him with cheers as he soaked in the only public moment he was allowed to acknowledge a milestone that won’t be printed on anything produced by Syracuse University. It wasn’t long before he was standing behind a podium, dancing around questions focused on his unofficial 1,000th career win.

“I don’t really talk about that stuff,” SU’s head coach said. “I’m happy that we got to 15 (wins this season).

“I know how many wins I’ve had. I’m very proud of that. Very proud.”

Boeheim had no choice but to play coy about his 1,000th win, a product of the Orange’s (15-9, 7-4 Atlantic Coast) upset over No. 9 Virginia (17-5, 7-3), which will not officially be remembered as a landmark victory. The NCAA vacated 101 wins from Boeheim’s coaching record on March 6, 2015, when it pegged SU for a flurry of violations over several years that was summed up as a “lack of institutional control” on Boeheim’s part.



In the eyes of the NCAA, this was Boeheim’s 899th career win. In the eyes of most every other spectator in the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon, what unfolded after the buzzer was a celebration of Boeheim joining elite coaching company. Unofficially, he joins Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Stanford women’s basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer and former Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Pat Summitt as the only college basketball coaches to ever win 1,000 games.

“The number I’m concerned about going into today was 15,” Boeheim said. “We had to get to 15 today. We’ve got tough road games ahead of us. Tough home games ahead of us. We have to win every chance we get.”

For an SU team that starts four players in their first year with the program, experience is hard to come by when giving a quick glance at the roster. Tyler Roberson and Dajuan Coleman are the only seniors on the team to play their entire careers under Boeheim.

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Both players have experienced a Final Four, played on a No. 1 team and been affected by a self-imposed postseason ban in 2013-14. That’s a lot to digest, Roberson noted, even in the grand scheme of a 41-year coaching career.

“It’s cool being here four years and seeing everything that’s happened to the program,” Roberson said. “The ups and downs, now finally seeing him get his 1,000 wins is meaningful.

“He earned it.”

As reporters continued to fling questions at Boeheim about the postgame circus on the court, whether he felt there was extra “oomph” or a different feel to the celebration, the head coach finally peeled off the proverbial muzzle placed on him by the NCAA.

He wasn’t about to disclose his personal feelings about his career win total having an asterisk next to it, but he took on the perspective of the fans. The fans that plastered playful cutouts of his face on signs, and vigorously waved at him like they’d never get another glimpse of the iconic head coach.

Boeheim knows what they all know: He’s won 1,000 games as Syracuse’s head coach.

“The people here feel that we should not have lost those wins. That’s probably the way all fans would feel,” Boeheim said. “There was obviously some question whether some of those or all of those should’ve been taken. But, they have.”





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