Wednesday was a huge day in college basketball in off-the-court news, as it brought the next major phase of the carousel: Jim Boeheim’s time at Syracuse coming to an end after 47 years as the head coach and six decades being officially tied to the school.
The university simultaneously announced the end of Boeheim’s run and the hiring of Adrian Autry — Syracuse’s first new coach since 1976. Conspicuously, Syracuse’s statement did not refer to Boeheim’s ending as a retirement, and Boeheim himself did not provide a quote or statement to the school’s announcement.
Autry was the rumored successor in recent weeks, and now it’s official. It also means that three Hall of Fame coaches have left the ACC in three successive years: Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski and Boeheim. Times are changing in college basketball.
Also on Wednesday: Mark Adams resigned at Texas Tech. The news came shortly after TTU lost to West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament. Adams was previously suspended for racially insensitive remarks he made to a player earlier this season, when he said he was quoting passages from the Bible. Adams went 43-25 in two years. Grant McCasland (North Texas) and Paul Mills (Oral Roberts) are two obvious names to keep an eye on for that job.
Also on Wednesday: I confirmed multiple reports of Chris Beard’s candidacy to be the next coach at Mississippi. As of Wednesday night, Beard was considered the favorite for the job, but one source stressed that significant hurdles still needed to be cleared before it became a practical likelihood that Beard indeed would be offered the job. He is, as of this story’s most recent publishing, one of a few candidates being vetted by Ole Miss.
Syracuse and Texas Tech making changes means there have been five high-major jobs with turnover, and a few more are expected to join them in the next 24-48 hours.
Other jobs I’m keeping an eye on, lest they open soon: Cal, Georgia Tech, St. John’s, Stanford, UCF, Washington and Western Kentucky.
In total, we’re at 19 gigs that have changed. We’ll probably get to 25 by the start of the weekend. Here’s the latest.
