When Kenny Anderson committed to Georgia Tech instead of Syracuse in 1988, making him one of the first flashy New York City guards to turn down Jim Boeheim, legend has it one of his family members provided a simple reason why.

‘That city’s cold, and that man is, too.’

Whether or not the comment was correctly attributed is still uncertain, but that’s beside the point. Anderson played two years at Tech, went to a Final Four and played 858 games in the NBA for nine teams.

Boeheim’s still here, in Syracuse. And it’s still cold.

But the 63-year-old head coach isn’t as cold as he was then. Thank Juli and ‘Melo for that. In fact, he’s the best professor I’ve had at Syracuse University in the three years I’ve attended.

Surprising? Hardly. Boeheim’s showed me more about journalism than anyone in Newhouse.

He taught me three basic rules. Preparation: You can’t sit there and wonder, ‘What the hell am I going to ask him now?’ Not possible. If you stumble when coming up with something on-the-fly, you’re doomed. And rightly so.

Simplicity: With Boeheim, you don’t need to even ask a question. Just say a name, or second half or rebounding. No beating the bush. Both parties want this question-and-answer session over as soon as possible.

Common sense: How did Darryl Watkins get that rebound? Well, he just grabbed it. Is there any more to it than that? Probably not, so why in the world would you ask him? Exactly.

The man knows infinitely more about basketball than anyone who poses a question. That’s the nature of this business, of course, but it’s hard for Boeheim to come to grips with that. Understandable, though. The man loves to coach, to think, to study basketball. There’s no room for wasting time.

For the two years I covered the men’s basketball team, I have studied Boeheim. Someone once lectured me on the importance of body language in a leader. He said he regularly watched Syracuse football coach Greg Robinson’s press conferences three times – once without sound, once with his eyes closed and only sound and finally with everything together. Robinson, he said, had very few redeeming characteristics as a leader.

I never asked him about Boeheim.

What a captivating figure, though. Sixty-three years spent in Central New York. Father was a funeral director in nearby Lyons. Young Jim picked up bodies and made house calls. Now, 32 years spent in the same exact position.

He taught me tact. The first time I ever talked to Boeheim, he called me when I was on the third floor of Bird Library. It was about a profile of Mike Jones (Who?). I asked terrible questions, and he gave me predictable, cliché answers.

Lesson learned?

Nope. For a preview of Syracuse’s first exhibition game against Bryant in 2006, he called me back while I was sitting in my Watson Hall room. I said, ‘Hi, Jim.’

‘Are you a student?’ He asked abruptly.

‘Uh, yes.’

‘In all of the years I’ve been here, I don’t think any student has called me ‘Jim.”

Fifteen seconds of the most awkward pause of my life.

‘I’m sorry, Coach,’ I managed to squeak out.

‘No, no. Don’t apologize. Go ahead.’

For the next two years, he was Coach.

He taught me the underrated act of surprise. After an unbelievably frustrating loss two years ago at Connecticut when SU was whistled for 25 fouls, Boeheim sat down for his press conference. He got up nine seconds later.

He didn’t take questions after the Orange’s 11-point blown lead vs. Pittsburgh this year. That one was not as surprising.

Boeheim once called the 2001-02 season the most difficult of his career. The team was ranked No. 7 in January and finished with fourth place in the NIT. Boeheim battled prostate cancer. DeShaun Williams and Preston Shumpert fought on the court; Williams was a maniac off of it.

Syracuse won the national title the following season.

So, maybe, there’s some solace for Syracuse fans. This year wore on the old head coach – even assistant Mike Hopkins hinted at it during the season. Boeheim never said it was his toughest, but he did admit never having to coach under the unthinkable circumstances of six available scholarship players (four freshmen) at times.

But here’s the kicker: Boeheim always returned The Daily Orange’s phone calls. The show he puts on after each game, maybe insulting TV cameraman No. 3 or silly reporter in the front row? It’s no act. He genuinely dislikes it. And although he generally only makes his players available after games, Boeheim makes sure he fulfills nearly every legitimate interview request he receives.

‘Let’s just answer the questions; try to be more forth coming,’ Boeheim said recently in a lengthy feature interview done on SNY. ‘I like 90 percent of the people I’ve met in the media; maybe 95 percent.’

I tried my best, but I understand if I’m in that five percent.

Thanks, Jim.

Matt Gelb was the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns will no longer appear. He can be reached at magelb@syr.edu.

 

Published on April 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm