Rapid Reaction: Former Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim to join ESPN/Westwood One
Former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is finalizing a deal to join ESPN and Westwood One for the 2023-24 college basketball season, according to College Hoops Today's Jon Rothstein.
Boeheim would work in studio as well as games for ESPN, and he would be a radio analyst for NCAA Tournament games for Westwood One, he also reported.
RAPID REACTION
This is a move that totally makes sense for Jim Boeheim in year one of retirement, especially as he was able to negotiate a time commitment that best fit his schedule.
What's not to like about getting paid great money to travel on-set or on-site to talk about college basketball, eat at nice restaurants and stay at topline hotels, and then watch and analyze the biggest games of the season?
Boeheim's move to ESPN and Westwood One follows that of fellow Hall of Fame coaches Bobby Knight (2008-2015) and Jim Calhoun (2014-2017) who both had stints at ESPN, and he joins many other former coaches and longtime confidants who have made the move to TV (media), most notably Dick Vitale, P.J. Carlesimo and more recently Seth Greenberg and Jay Wright.
No doubt Boeheim sought the input and advice from both his family/representatives and a litany of longtime close media industry contacts.
For example, it's hard not to think that athletic director John Wildhack, who arrived back at SU in 2016 after 36 years at ESPN, and proud alums, longtime ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough (1984) and Howard Deneroff (1989), the EVP and Executive Producer of Sports at Westwood One, assisted Boeheim in the process.
We had the unique experience of hosting Boeheim's weekly coaches show on our state-wide radio network between 1984-1990. Each (mostly) Thursday night during the season, the coach would come by the downtown WSYR Radio studios and talk SU hoops for an hour with a lineup of callers.
He certainly was not fond of the media in those days, other than a few national sportscasters with whom he shared a close bond, and admitted (candidly) that the attractive remuneration he was receiving from the season-long call-in shows was the reason he was appearing.
Over the years his relationship with the media certainly softened in general, with the usual fireworks here and there each campaign sprinkled in.
Keep an eye on Boeheim being involved in the February 24 broadcast against Notre Dame in the Dome, It's a noon start on an ESPN channel to be determined, as the university has proclaimed it "Coach Jim Boeheim Day" honoring his career.
In addition to being SU's Special Assistant to the Director of Athletics, you can now add another post-coaching sidelight: Jim Boeheim - Media Member. His take, on college hoops, especially in the needed shorter and less drawn out style, will be enjoyable to follow.
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