On Thursday, NCAA Basketball betting fans found out that Syracuse formalized what long appeared the inevitable solution to forging ahead in the post-Jim Boeheim years: It named assistant Mike Hopkins as the replacement for his boss in 2018, giving Hopkins the title “head coach-designate,” which presumably authorizes him to run a program and also sign for Boeheim’s deliveries. It is at once a very easy and very convoluted call. Hopkins is a popular former player, and possessive Syracuse fans turned feral at any suggestion he might work elsewhere. And yet he is the top deputy in a program recently bludgeoned by NCAA sanctions, which is part of the reason Boeheim will retire, which is the entire reason for this announcement in the first place.
ICYMI: Mike Hopkins talked about being named Jim Boeheim’s successor at Syracuse. http://t.co/EPtuqgbIvX
— Syracuse Basketball (@syrbasketball) June 26, 2015