Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim can start serving his nine-game suspension immediately, the NCAA Infractions Appeal Committee ruled Thursday.
Boeheim, whose suspenion was originally supposed to begin at the start of ACC play later this month, instead will start with Syracuse's game at Georgetown.
"The Appeals Committee determined that the NCAA Committee on Infractions 'abused its discretion' by directing the suspension be served during conference play, because Coach Boeheim was not directly involved in the underlying violations of the case," Syracuse senior vice president Kevin Quinn said in a statement.
"The University is pleased the Appeals Committee recognized that the initial sanction imposed on Coach Boeheim was too harsh.