Josh Pace reflects on Syracuse's 2003 Championship, Jim Boeheim retirement

Nearly 23 years ago to the day, Jim Boeheim was in Griffin, Georgia in the Pace's living room.

Syracuse had offered Josh Pace, a four-year All-State player and a Nike All-American, and Boeheim was making his pitch to have Pace join the Orangemen's 2001 recruiting class.

But Pace's mother, June, was in tears.

Central New York was more than 1,000 miles away from Griffin, and she knew it would be difficult to see her son play.

"My mom was literally bawling," Pace said on this week's The Juice on the Cuse Podcast, presented by Rivals.

Boeheim and June went outside and the two had a heart-to-heart conversation.

"'He'll be okay,'" Boeheim said to June. "We'll take care of him.'"

That was the final assurance June needed to give her blessing for Pace to attend Syracuse.

It was the beginning of a two-plus decade relationship between Pace and Boeheim.

In the next four seasons, Pace would become a vital cog in Syracuse's 2-3 zone, and a key member of the Orangemen's 2003 National Championship team.

Boeheim announced his retirement last Friday after 47 years as head coach of the Orange. He left with 1,116 wins, five Final Fours and five Big East Tournament championships.

"It was shocking information," Pace said about hearing the news. "He basically built it from the ground up. The tradition and history that we have is all attributed to him. For it to be the end, is a very sad day. He's a legend and I was very happy to be a part of the historic program."

But Pace added it was also a day to celebrate. Boeheim, after all, had gone out mostly on his own terms. He had an opportunity to coach both of his sons, Buddy and Jimmy, in the 2021-22 season and along the way had been named a Naismith Hall of Famer in 2005.

Boeheim also got to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the championship on the weekend of March 4, which also ended with a Syracuse win over Wake Forest. It was ultimately the final win of Boeheim's historic career.

Pace and other members of the team, including Carmelo Anthony, Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara, were honored during a halftime ceremony. After the game, Warrick and McNamara saw their jerseys retired before 24,000-plus fans at the JMA Wireless Dome.

"To still get that same love from our fan base was really cool," Pace said.

While Pace didn't necessarily think Boeheim's speech (which Boeheim later said was his retirement swan song) was a going away moment, he also said he sensed something from Boeheim he had never felt before.

"He was content at that moment, he could possibly retire," Pace said. "That's the feeling I got from it."

Pace recalled the moment when he knew the 2003 team had a chance to be special.

When the freshman class of McNamara, Anthony and Matt Gorman arrived on campus in 2002, the team got together for a series of scrimmages in Archbold Gym on campus, which had been a yearly ritual.

Normally, the upperclassmen dominate the incoming freshman. Such was not the case with this class.

"After that run of games, it was clear that Melo was the best player on the floor," Pace said. "And it was clear that Gerry brought an edge and competitiveness, and an offensive game. We could tell we had a chance."

Syracuse went 30-5 that season, going undefeated at the Carrier Dome and defeating a string of Big 12 teams on the way to the championship at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Pace finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds in the title game against Kansas. But the thing he remembers most is chasing Kirk Henrich in the game's waning moments with SU clinging to a 81-78 lead. It was Pace's job to shadow him as he made his way through a series of screens and to harass him into a miss.

Henrich did ultimately launch a desperation 3 as the buzzer sounded, but it fell well short and Pace immediately made a beeline toward the baseline with both hands raised in the air.

"I was like, 'What?" Pace said. "Nobody thought we were going to be here. I was freestyling, man. I was in my own moment."

After a pro career spent mostly in the New Zealand Basketball League, Pace made his way back to the states and followed in Boeheim's steps by starting a coaching career with the Pepperdine women's basketball team as an assistant.

In 2019, he was named an assistant coach of the Western New Mexico women's basketball team, and became head coach a season later.

Pace is coming off his best season with the Mustangs, as they won double-digit games for the first time in his tenure to go with eight conference games.

"It's going really well," he said.

But does he think he can coach for nearly a half century like Boeheim?

"I don't know if I could see myself doing that," Pace said. "For (Boeheim) to do that for 47 years at your alma mater, that might not be done again. He may be the last one... But me doing 47 years of coaching? I don't know if that's going to happen."

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