Syracuse disciplined its own basketball team earlier in the season by imposing a postseason ban for this season. On Friday, however, the NCAA dropped the hammer.
Citing a decade-long pattern of violations from 2001-02 to 2011-12, the NCAA suspended Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim nine ACC games, took away 12 of the school’s scholarships, placed the school on a five-year probation and forced Boeheim to vacate a total of 108 wins.
“Over the course of a decade, Syracuse University did not control and monitor its athletics programs, and its head men’s basketball coach failed to monitor his program,” the NCAA said in a statement Friday.
The NCAA’s four-year investigation of the Orange, which concluded in October 2014, included the football program as well, but most violations occurred on the men’s basketball team. Among the infractions were academic misconduct, extra benefits, failure to follow the school’s own drug policy and “impermissible booster activity.”
Boeheim and Syracuse were forced to vacate all wins in which ineligible players participated, which includes 108 victories over a total of five seasons. Boeheim ranked second behind Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski with 966 career wins but now is left with 858, seventh on the all-time NCAA wins list.
The NCAA also agreed to accept Syracuse’s decision not to participate in any postseason games this season — including the ACC tournament — and will place recruiting restrictions on the Orange for the next two seasons.
The investigating committee stated in its decision that the basketball team’s actions represented a “violation of the most fundamental core values of the NCAA and higher education,” and that the program “demonstrated clearly misplaced institutional priorities.”
Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud said the school is considering appealing portions of the decision.
Thumbnail photo via Mark Konezny/USA TODAY Sports Images
