In June of 2015, amid a cloud of NCAA ignominy, Syracuse officials announced a transition plan from head coach Jim Boeheim to assistant coach Mike Hopkins. Since 2007, Hopkins has been the designated replacement for Boeheim. And with that transition just one year away from becoming reality, a new wrinkle has validated the skepticism that Boeheim will step down after the 2017-18 season.
Hopkins’s decision to take the head coaching job at Washington on Sunday provides yet another sign that Boeheim’s tenure at Syracuse could be extended. Hopkins’s departure is an explicit acknowledgement of what’s long been perceived as fact in Syracuse circles: Boeheim has no interest in ending his run at the helm of the Orange at the end of next season.