Syracuse is punished
NCAA orders a suspension for Boeheim, other discipline for a decade of violations.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The NCAA denounced one of the country's most decorated basketball programs Friday, suspending Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim for nine conference games next year and outlining a decadelong series of violations that included academic misconduct, improper benefits, and drug-policy failures.
The governing body, saying the school lost control of its athletic department, placed Syracuse on probation for five years for breaking with the "most fundamental core values of the NCAA."
The bulk of the violations concerned athletic department officials interfering with academics and making sure star players stayed eligible.
The basketball team must vacate wins in which ineligible players participated. Those players competed during five seasons: 2004-2007 and 2010-2012.
"The behavior in this case, which placed the desire to achieve success on the basketball court over academic integrity, demonstrated clearly misplaced institutional priorities," the NCAA said.
Boeheim, the second-winningest coach in Division I history with 966 victories, has coached at Syracuse for 39 years, having played at the school as well. The 70-year-old coach has been an assistant on the last two U.S. Olympic champion teams.
The punishment includes financial penalties and the reduction of three men's basketball scholarships a year for four years. Recruiting restrictions will be enforced for two years. Boeheim's suspension will sideline him for half of the next Atlantic Coast Conference season.
The eight-year investigation also revealed violations by the football program and women's basketball, although most were in men's basketball.
In anticipation of the report, Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud had announced a postseason ban for this year for the men's basketball team.
The exact number of victories Boeheim will lose has not yet been determined, according to Syracuse spokesman Kevin Quinn.