"I'm not involved in [my kid’s recruiting]. They call Juli.”
Over the years, we’ve learned a few things about Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim.
He’s not a micro-manager. He gives people their own responsibility to figure things out for themselves. He’s not afraid to publicly size-up his players in order to motivate them.
In Donna Ditota’s piece on Boeheim’s kids who are now old enough to potentially play college basketball themselves, we learn that Dad Jim Boeheim isn’t much different.
Son Jimmy is off to prep school but in the midst of the recruiting process. Twins Buddy and Jamie play for the Jamesville-DeWitt boys and girls teams, respectively. So how does Father Jim deal with coaches trying to recruit his children? He doesn’t.
"I'm not involved in it. They call Juli," he said. "I talk to a couple of them, but I said just talk to him. Trust me, Jimmy's doing what Jimmy wants to do. My daughter and him do what they want to do. Buddy listens to me."
As for Jimmy, he’s coming off of a season in which he averaged 23 points per game and appears to be getting a strong pitch from Dartmouth. Those who wondered if he might end up walking on at Syracuse probably have their answer given the strong interest Jimmy is getting from some schools.
"[Dartmouth is] rebuilding. It'll be good for him. He's a good player. He plays like Chris Mullin. He's not Chris Mullin, but that's who he plays like. He's a lefty," Boeheim said. "He'd like to be recruited. Davidson came in late. They liked him. That would be a place he could probably play. By the time they got to him, it was too late. Harvard likes him, but they've got too many guys. He wants to go to Harvard."
Don’t we all.
My favorite part of the piece, however, is Boeheim’s assessment of Buddy, which proves once and for all that Boeheim the Dad and Boeheim the Coach see the world in roughly the same way.
Boeheim describes his son, Buddy, as "a good player" who lacks the confidence of his big brother.
Buddy and Tyler Roberson should go get a milkshake and talk things out.
