Just in time for the beginning of March Madness, the with harsh penalties. The episode reminds us, once again, of how far programs will go to achieve and maintain athletic success.
It also reminds us of how a university that allows an athletic fief to grow in its midst can compromise what the N.C.A.A. report called the association's "most fundamental core values."
Syracuse will be hit with financial penalties, will lose 12 men's basketball scholarships over the next four years and will be under recruiting restrictions for the next two years.
"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 N.C.A.A.'s Division I Committee on Infractions said in its report.

North Carolina State 71, Syracuse 57: After Syracuse Is Stripped of Wins, Jim Boeheim Is Unable to Gain Another MARCH 7, 2015

Syracuse Basketball and Coach Jim Boeheim Hit Hard by N.C.A.A. MARCH 6, 2015
But Syracuse is not alone. The N.C.A.A. has reopened an investigation into an academic scandal at North Carolina, where, from 1993 to 2011, about 3,100 students - roughly half of them athletes - received credit for classes that in some cases did not exist or did not require any work.Photo
Coach Jim Boeheim during Saturday's loss. The N.C.A.A. said it had found a pattern of severe violations at Syracuse that extended back more than a decade.CreditEthan Hyman/The News & Observer, via Associated Press
This could get even uglier.
The Syracuse penalties were harsh, but they could have been - perhaps should have been - much worse. The N.C.A.A. said it had found a pattern of severe violations that extended back more than a decade.
In fact, they may have stretched back more than two decades.
In 1990, The Syracuse Post-Standard published the results of its own investigation into the Orange basketball program, including findings that players had received cash and gifts from boosters. A former Syracuse player told the newspaper that one of his grades had been changed so he would not lose his eligibility for an important Big East Conference game in 1987.
Games on a Reservation Go By in a Blur MAR 2
See More »
Soon after the results of the investigation were published, the president of the Hardwood Club, Syracuse's primary basketball fund-raising organization, was told to resign.
Gifts, grade changes, "rogue" boosters. Sound familiar? The newspaper series prompted an internal investigation at the university; that in turn prompted an N.C.A.A. investigation, which led to probation.
Syracuse was hit with sanctions, including a ban from postseason play in 1993, for recruiting-related violations.
In a statement on the current penalties, Syracuse's men's basketball coach, Jim Boeheim, said Friday: "I am disappointed with many of the findings and conclusions as stated in the infractions report. The committee chose to ignore the efforts which I have undertaken over the past 37 years to promote an atmosphere of compliance."
As part of the new penalties, Boeheim received a nine-game suspension to be served next season.
There shouldn't be a next season for him. The university and Boeheim, its revered coach, should find a way to part gracefully because as long as he is patrolling the sideline, the institution sends the message that the big dog - the university - is being wagged by its tail.
Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Trust me: I know parting will be difficult.
Boeheim is woven into the fabric of Syracuse. He was a walk-on as a freshman player in 1962. He became a graduate assistant in 1969 and a full-time assistant in 1972 before replacing Roy Danforth as head coach in 1976.
When he took over, basketball was hardly the popular pastime at Syracuse that it is today. Games were played in Manley Field House, with its dirt floors and sparse crowds. Now the team plays under a dome, and Syracuse is among the annual attendance leaders. Syracuse has become a destination for great high school talent.Continue reading the main storyRECENT COMMENTS
Robert 4 minutes ago
Where was the NCAA when Syracuse and others left the BIg East? Might it impact on student athletes to have to fly constantly to Greensboro...srj4800 5 minutes ago
I went to most games at the Manley Field House and I can tell you they were anything but sparsely attended. The reason the Dome was built...Cloud 9 5 minutes ago
Just one question. Will the NCAA vacate North Carolina's last championship given that at least one of its star players, Rashaad MCCants,...SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT
Boeheim has built this empire, and all have gained - coaches, players and the university. Especially the university.
The Syracuse program that Boeheim built is not going anywhere. I was assured of that a couple of decades ago by the chancellor and president at the time, Melvin A. Eggers, who retired in 1991.
Athletics will stay, but academic scandals like those at Syracuse and North Carolina can rupture the uneasy relationship between sports and the academy. They can also be demoralizing to faculty members who have to bite their tongues and hold their noses at places where the grandest campus buildings and the largest salaries belong to the athletics department.
When this latest report was released, my first reaction was not about the violations as much as the ludicrous practice of putting college basketball coaches in the Hall of Fame before their careers are over.
What an embarrassment. Now there are at least three coaches in the Hall of Fame - Boeheim, Jim Calhoun of Connecticut and Jerry Tarkanian of Nevada-Las Vegas - whose programs were placed on probation under their watch.
These scandals, which are by no means limited to the blood sports of football and basketball, fuel the debate about the role of intercollegiate athletics on campus. Namely: Should the university be engaged in serious intercollegiate athletics? Can top-quality academic programs and top-quality athletic programs coexist?CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY14COMMENTS
The most serious of the charges leveled by the N.C.A.A. accused Syracuse of a lack of institutional control.
"Over the course of a decade, Syracuse University did not control and monitor its athletics programs," the infractions committee wrote, "and its head men's basketball coach failed to monitor his program."
This season is Boeheim's 39th as Syracuse's coach. If the university is serious about sending a message on integrity and reform, he should not be allowed to celebrate a 40th.
A Coach Woven in Syracuse’s Fabric Oversees
It also reminds us of how a university that allows an athletic fief to grow in its midst can compromise what the N.C.A.A. report called the association's "most fundamental core values."
Syracuse will be hit with financial penalties, will lose 12 men's basketball scholarships over the next four years and will be under recruiting restrictions for the next two years.
"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 N.C.A.A.'s Division I Committee on Infractions said in its report.

North Carolina State 71, Syracuse 57: After Syracuse Is Stripped of Wins, Jim Boeheim Is Unable to Gain Another MARCH 7, 2015

Syracuse Basketball and Coach Jim Boeheim Hit Hard by N.C.A.A. MARCH 6, 2015
But Syracuse is not alone. The N.C.A.A. has reopened an investigation into an academic scandal at North Carolina, where, from 1993 to 2011, about 3,100 students - roughly half of them athletes - received credit for classes that in some cases did not exist or did not require any work.Photo

Coach Jim Boeheim during Saturday's loss. The N.C.A.A. said it had found a pattern of severe violations at Syracuse that extended back more than a decade.CreditEthan Hyman/The News & Observer, via Associated Press
This could get even uglier.
The Syracuse penalties were harsh, but they could have been - perhaps should have been - much worse. The N.C.A.A. said it had found a pattern of severe violations that extended back more than a decade.
In fact, they may have stretched back more than two decades.
In 1990, The Syracuse Post-Standard published the results of its own investigation into the Orange basketball program, including findings that players had received cash and gifts from boosters. A former Syracuse player told the newspaper that one of his grades had been changed so he would not lose his eligibility for an important Big East Conference game in 1987.
Games on a Reservation Go By in a Blur MAR 2
See More »
Soon after the results of the investigation were published, the president of the Hardwood Club, Syracuse's primary basketball fund-raising organization, was told to resign.
Gifts, grade changes, "rogue" boosters. Sound familiar? The newspaper series prompted an internal investigation at the university; that in turn prompted an N.C.A.A. investigation, which led to probation.
Syracuse was hit with sanctions, including a ban from postseason play in 1993, for recruiting-related violations.
In a statement on the current penalties, Syracuse's men's basketball coach, Jim Boeheim, said Friday: "I am disappointed with many of the findings and conclusions as stated in the infractions report. The committee chose to ignore the efforts which I have undertaken over the past 37 years to promote an atmosphere of compliance."
As part of the new penalties, Boeheim received a nine-game suspension to be served next season.
There shouldn't be a next season for him. The university and Boeheim, its revered coach, should find a way to part gracefully because as long as he is patrolling the sideline, the institution sends the message that the big dog - the university - is being wagged by its tail.
Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Trust me: I know parting will be difficult.
Boeheim is woven into the fabric of Syracuse. He was a walk-on as a freshman player in 1962. He became a graduate assistant in 1969 and a full-time assistant in 1972 before replacing Roy Danforth as head coach in 1976.
When he took over, basketball was hardly the popular pastime at Syracuse that it is today. Games were played in Manley Field House, with its dirt floors and sparse crowds. Now the team plays under a dome, and Syracuse is among the annual attendance leaders. Syracuse has become a destination for great high school talent.Continue reading the main storyRECENT COMMENTS
Robert 4 minutes ago
Where was the NCAA when Syracuse and others left the BIg East? Might it impact on student athletes to have to fly constantly to Greensboro...srj4800 5 minutes ago
I went to most games at the Manley Field House and I can tell you they were anything but sparsely attended. The reason the Dome was built...Cloud 9 5 minutes ago
Just one question. Will the NCAA vacate North Carolina's last championship given that at least one of its star players, Rashaad MCCants,...SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT
Boeheim has built this empire, and all have gained - coaches, players and the university. Especially the university.
The Syracuse program that Boeheim built is not going anywhere. I was assured of that a couple of decades ago by the chancellor and president at the time, Melvin A. Eggers, who retired in 1991.
Athletics will stay, but academic scandals like those at Syracuse and North Carolina can rupture the uneasy relationship between sports and the academy. They can also be demoralizing to faculty members who have to bite their tongues and hold their noses at places where the grandest campus buildings and the largest salaries belong to the athletics department.
When this latest report was released, my first reaction was not about the violations as much as the ludicrous practice of putting college basketball coaches in the Hall of Fame before their careers are over.
What an embarrassment. Now there are at least three coaches in the Hall of Fame - Boeheim, Jim Calhoun of Connecticut and Jerry Tarkanian of Nevada-Las Vegas - whose programs were placed on probation under their watch.
These scandals, which are by no means limited to the blood sports of football and basketball, fuel the debate about the role of intercollegiate athletics on campus. Namely: Should the university be engaged in serious intercollegiate athletics? Can top-quality academic programs and top-quality athletic programs coexist?CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY14COMMENTS
The most serious of the charges leveled by the N.C.A.A. accused Syracuse of a lack of institutional control.
"Over the course of a decade, Syracuse University did not control and monitor its athletics programs," the infractions committee wrote, "and its head men's basketball coach failed to monitor his program."
This season is Boeheim's 39th as Syracuse's coach. If the university is serious about sending a message on integrity and reform, he should not be allowed to celebrate a 40th.
A Coach Woven in Syracuse’s Fabric Oversees