The Hall of Famer didn’t hold back.
Have you ever known Jim Boeheim to hold back his opinion or sugarcoat anything? We received more of the same at Friday’s Media Day when the 2003 National Champion was asked about North Carolina’s sanctions, or lack thereof.
“I’m not going to comment on anything about that,” Boeheim initially said to a Chris Carlson question, then quickly added more. “But, as you mentioned many times, in your writings, head coach responsibility. That didn’t apply to North Carolina. Screamingly obvious. And I’m surprised that you (Carlson), in particular, haven’t been all over that. I’m supposed to know about a 10-page paper and they don’t know about 18 years of A’s?”
Boeheim is referring to a 10-page paper that had Fab Melo’s name on it. The NCAA deemed that academic fraud had taken place and came down hard on Syracuse.
The SU men’s basketball program was stripped of scholarships, Jim Boeheim was suspended for a portion of the ACC schedule and the program was put on probation.
North Carolina offered classes for 18 years, as Boeheim pointed out, that helped student-athletes stay eligible while focusing on their respective sport. The classes required one term paper, which we’ve seen could be as little as one paragraph, and the student-athlete would receive an ‘A’ in return. Attendance, as you can imagine, wasn’t required.
Just over a week ago, the NCAA ruled there wasn’t any wrongdoing at North Carolina, and Roy Williams and his program walked away squeaky clean.
As Carlson writes, there is no evidence that North Carolina’s athletic department did anything to stop or report the classes.
Hell, they probably encouraged it.
“I know every year what my players get and what courses they get them in,” Boeheim said last week. “I get a report every semester, what course and what grades.”
Can Roy Williams say the same? If he can, he’s known about his players cheating for years. If not, well — give me a break.
