Jim Boeheim Bio And Facts

Jim Boeheim

Jim Boeheim is a former Syracuse University men’s basketball head coach and player. Being born and raised in the Syracuse area and having played at Syracuse University before coaching the school’s men’s basketball team for over 47 years, Jim Boeheim is a true upstate New York legend.

Jim Boeheim was born on November 17, 1944, in Lyons, New York, a small town in upstate New York. Upon graduating from high school, Boeheim started his college career at Syracuse University, where he entered the men’s basketball team as a walk-on and reached the NCAA Tournament as a senior. After his undergraduate days were over, he went to play for the Scranton Miners, a professional team in the Continental Basketball Association, before starting his coaching career.

Just three years following his graduation, Boeheim was back at Syracuse University, this time as an assistant coach. Boeheim spent eight seasons as an assistant coach under Ray Danforth before being promoted to head coach amid Danforth’s departure after taking Syracuse to its first Final Four in 1975.

From 1976 to 2023, Jim Boeheim was the head coach of the men’s basketball at Syracuse University, turning the program into one of the best in the nation, winning over 1,000 games and making five Final Four trips, one of which produced a National Championship in 2003.

Basic Info:

• Birthdate: November 17, 1944
• Education: Syracuse University
• Net Worth: $20 million
• Occupation: NCAA Men’s Basketball Division I head coach
• Height: 6’3” (1.91 m)
• Position (as a player): Guard 
• Years Active: 1976-2023 (47 seasons)
• Career Wins: 1,015 wins
• Career Losses: 441 losses
• Teams: Syracuse University, Team USA Basketball

Social Media:

• Twitter
• Business Website

Net Worth

In 47 seasons as the head coach of the Syracuse Orange, Jim Boeheim was able to constantly bring new revenue streams to the school, whether it was through broadcasting rights deals or NCAA monetary awards for participating in the tournament. This allowed him to sign some of the largest contracts in college basketball and keep him among the highest-paid coaches in the nation. Boeheim’s current net worth stands at $20 million.

Career

During his career, Jim Boeheim accomplished something that is almost unheard of in basketball: spending over 60 seasons at the same institution between his years as a player and coach. Throughout this great period, he has been responsible for turning a small program into one of the powerhouses in Division I Men’s Basketball.

Boeheim became the head coach of the Syracuse Orange in 1976 and was at the helm of the program for 47 seasons, winning over 1,000 games and leading the school to 33 NCAA Tournament appearances and one National Championship. Throughout his time at the school, Syracuse went from being an independent team to being part of the Big East Conference first and the Atlantic Coast Conference afterward.

Alongside his Syracuse job, Jim Boeheim held multiple positions at Team USA Basketball from 1982 to 2016.

In March of 2023, following a loss in the ACC Tournament, Syracuse University announced Boeheim’s retirement from coaching the men’s basketball team. After 47 years as Syracuse’s head coach, Boeheim retires as the second-most winningest coach in NCAA men’s basketball history. He was a fundamental figure in coaching many of Syracuse’s best players, including Carmelo Anthony, Sherman Douglas, Hakim Warrick, and Derrick Coleman. Boeheim’s successor, Adrian Autry, was a player under him from 1990 to 1994.

Titles And Awards

Jim Boeheim holds many NCAA records and is among the most decorated coaches in the history of NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball. In 47 seasons at Syracuse, Boeheim led the Orange to five Final Four appearances, including three National Championship games, winning one in 2003 and losing two (1986, 1996).

In 1979, which coincided with Boeheim’s fourth season as the seventh head coach of the Orange, the school became part of the Big East Conference. Syracuse would leave the conference in 2013 to join the ACC after years of domination, thanks to its head coach. In 45 seasons in the conference, Syracuse won the regular season title 10 times and was a five-time champion of the Big East tournament.

As an assistant coach for USA basketball, Boeheim won three Olympic gold medals (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016) and two World Cup gold medals (Turkey 2010 and Spain 2014).

Apart from being a member of both the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame, Jim Boeheim has also won a handful of personal awards. These include four Big East Coach of the Year honors, the Naismith College Coach of the Year, and the AP Coach of the Year, both of which came after his 2010 record-breaking season.

Personal Life

Jim Boeheim has lived in Syracuse almost his whole life after joining the university as a student-athlete in 1963. The head coach of the Orange currently resides in his waterfront estate on Skaneateles Lake, a lake area just outside of Syracuse.

After 18 years of marriage to Elaine Boeheim, with whom he had a daughter named Elizabeth, Jim divorced in 1994 and remarried Juli Boeheim in 1997. The two gave birth to Jimmy and twins Buddy and Jamie. Both Jimmy and Buddy have played under coach Boeheim at Syracuse, sharing the court in their final season of NCAA eligibility in 2022.

Coach Boeheim is a prostate cancer survivor and is very active in charitable initiatives in the fight against cancer. Through the organization “Coaches vs. Cancer” and his own, the “Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation,” he has helped raise millions of dollars and awareness for the cause. Boeheim has also appeared in basketball-related movies like “Blue Chips” and “He Got Game.”

Fun Facts

• Jim Boeheim is among the few coaches in the history of NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball to have coached two of his sons at the same time.
• Jim’s son, Buddy, played under his dad for four seasons at Syracuse before joining the Detroit Pistons as an undrafted free agent.
• Syracuse University named its basketball court inside the JMA Wireless Dome after Jim Boeheim to recognize him for his impact on the school and the program.
• Coach Boeheim has played himself in multiple movies, including “Blue Chips,” which featured Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, and “He Got Game,” directed by Spike Lee.
• With Syracuse’s win over San Diego State on March 19, 2021, Jim Boeheim became the first and only coach in the history of NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball to win a tournament game in six different decades.

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