At a book signing for his recently released autobiography on Tuesday, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim spoke about his life and Syracuse basketball. Boeheim spoke candidly with Orange fans, offering insight on this year’s team, the state of Syracuse basketball, and other topics you would expect a coach to engage fans with. He also, however, delivered an intriguing outlook on how much longer he will be sitting on the Syracuse bench.

“We are definitely near the end. When the end is I don’t know. I hope some day I will wake up and think it’s time! I have not yet had that morning, but I have woken up when some days I start thinking about it and I’m home for two days, and I have two twins who are 14, and a 16 year old, and I don’t think it’s time. Even if I might want it to be time, it’s not time yet.”

Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski Teamed Up to Win Another Gold Medal This Summer
(Photo: Raleigh News & Observer / Getty Images)

Boeheim made it clear that he will not be retiring in the immediate future, but he strongly suggests that he can see that day coming quickly. Boeheim has been the head coach of the Syracuse basketball team for 38 years, missing March Madness only seven times in that span and winning one National Championship in four Final Four appearances. His illustrious career has certainly earned him legendary status at Syracuse, and, whenever he decides to hang it up, it will most definitely be the end of an era. In his time at Syracuse, the head coach has won 948 games with a .750 lifetime winning percentage. And yes, while he can alienate rival fans (or possibly the entire ACC by the time he’s through with it), he is an absolutely beloved character among Orange faithful, somewhat akin to Mike Krzyzewski at Duke or Dean Smith at North Carolina.

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Who Won the Week? is a regular column that will outline and discuss three winners and losers from the previous week. The author of this column is Kenny Ocker (@KennyOcker), an Oregon-based sportswriter best known for his willingness to drive (or bike!) anywhere to watch a basketball game.

WINNER: Kevin Ollie

Kevin Ollie Has Gotten Off to a Nice Start at UConn (credit: CT Post)

The debutante coach of the UConn Huskies still has a huge task in front of himself this season in trying to motivate a team ineligible for the postseason because of terrible academic performance. But he couldn’t have started his tenure off better. Beating a talented Michigan State team on Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany was one of the first night’s biggest surprises, and then coming back home to blow out Vermont in what could have been a letdown game was an accomplishment in itself. Ollie and the Huskies should cruise through the next two weeks before a December 4 match-up with North Carolina State in the Jimmy V Classic.

(Related winners: The UConn program, Jim Calhoun. Related losers: Michigan State.)

LOSER: The ACC

The Atlantic Coast Conference could have a big problem — depth. The league’s lower half has taken four losses from mid-major schools in the first week (two more than any other BCS conference): Virginia falling to George Mason and Delaware, Florida State losing to South Alabama, and Miami losing by 12 to Florida Gulf Coast. The separation between Duke/North Carolina/N.C. State and the rest of the conference could be vast this year, and that may hurt a lot of middle-of-the-road ACC teams come Selection Sunday.

(Related winners: The Colonial Athletic Association as a whole, South Alabama, bubble teams from other conferences. Related losers: The teams that lost to mid-majors, the other teams in the middle of the ACC.)

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