Bleeding Orange: Fifty Years of Blind Referees, Screaming Fans, Beasts of the East, and Syracuse Basketball

by Jim Boeheim, Jack McCallum

Overview

New York Times Bestseller

In this candid autobiography, Syracuse head coach and long time college basketball fixture Jim Boeheim reflects on his life, his teachers, and the game he loves.

Jim Boeheim walked onto the Syracuse campus as a freshman in 1963 . . . and never walked off. A man who has been written off at various stages of his career and criticized for being disagreeable, Boeheim has experienced it all—triumph, despair, redemption; controversy, heartbreak, and scandal; championships, epic disappointments, colorful personalities, NCAA investigations.

His combative personality helped ignite what was arguably the most competitive college basketball conference ever: the Big East of the 1980s, when he and Syracuse battled with Big John Thompson of Georgetown, roly-poly Rollie Massimino of Villanova, feisty Jim Calhoun of Connecticut, and beloved Looie Carnesecca of St. John’s, turning the Big East into a Coaches Conference and the Best Show in College Basketball. Boeheim talks about those days and the coming battles with powerhouses North Carolina and Duke, now that Syracuse has joined the Atlantic Coast Conference.

From his association with Syracuse greats Dave Bing (a college teammate), Pearl Washington, and Derrick Coleman, to the Olympics—where he coached players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant—Boeheim has learned many lessons that have helped his team and continue to encourage him now as he nears seventy.

His unprecedented fifty-year career as a player, assistant, head coach and icon has given him unique insight into coaching and the college game, knowledge he now shares.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062316653
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/10/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	242,666
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 5.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jim Boeheim is the second-winningest coach in college basketball history behind Mike Krzyzewski. He has been elected to the coaches wing of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and has been the head coach of the Syracuse Orangemen for nearly forty years.

Jack McCallum is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestseller Dream Team. He is a recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for excellence in basketball writing.

Table of Contents

Prologue February 1, 2014 1

Chapter 1 A Loner Arrives on Campus 9

Chapter 2 The "B&B" Show 19

A COACH'S NOTES I: 67 DAYS, 11 HOURS, 14 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 29

Chapter 3 My Spot on the Bench 35

Chapter 4 The Honeymoon's Over 45

A COACH'S NOTES II: 3 DAYS, 19 HOURS, 23 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 55

Chapter 5 When Orangemen Played at Manley 61

Chapter 6 Beasts of the East 69

A COACH'S NOTES III: ID DAYS, 5 HOURS, 12 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 79

Chapter 7 A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 85

Chapter 8 The Pearl at the Center of the Orange 99

A COACH'S NOTES IV: 4 DAYS, 4 HOURS, 13 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 111

Chapter 9 General Sherman 117

Chapter 10 The Enigma 125

A COACH'S NOTES V: 1 DAY, 21 HOURS, 9 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 139

Chapter 11 Blue Chips 147

Chapter 12 The Kentucky Connection 157

A COACH'S NOTES VI: 9 HOURS, 31 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 167

Chapter 13 The Last Loss of the Old Boeheim 171

Chapter 14 Eternal Rivals 183

Chapter 15 Melo, G-Mac and the Big One 195

A COACH'S NOTES VII: 3 DAYS, 8 HOURS, 17 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 211

Chapter 16 A Call from the Hall 215

Chapter 17 The Four-Day Show 225

Chapter 18 The Twilight Zone 235

A COACH'S NOTES VIII: 1 DAYS, 17 HOURS, 58 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 249

Chapter 19 The Bernie Fine Saga 261

Chapter 20 The End of the East 271

Chapter 21 One and Done 285

A COACH'S NOTES IX: 243 DAYS, 11 HOURS, 14 MINUTES UNTIL TIP-OFF 293

Afterword 305

Acknowledgments 313

Editorial Reviews

Boeheim’s voice rings through clearly in this readable, thoughtful book about coaching college basketball. . . basketball junkies will especially value his insights into dealing with players, officials, and larger than life coaching personalities in the heyday of the Big East.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

11/15/2014
In collaboration with McCallum (Dream Team), Boeheim delivers an honest look into his life as one of college basketball's most notorious and successful coaches. Coming into his 39th year as the Syracuse University head coach, the author reminisces on his long sports career, from walking onto the Syracuse basketball team in 1962 to the disappointing end of the 2013–14 season, and the many changes college basketball has undergone throughout the years. In a conversational tone, Boeheim tells of the highs and lows of the Syracuse program, including building iconic players such as Carmelo Anthony, his noteworthy turbulent relationship with the press, and his experiences coaching for the U.S. national team. Along the lines of John Wooden's They Call Me Coach, Boeheim's title supplies valuable basketball advice and gives insight into his rationale for coaching decisions. Readers enthralled by Bud Poliquin's Tales from the Syracuse Orange's Locker Room will also appreciate this coach's perspective. VERDICT Filled with stories of basketball history from someone who lived it, this autobiography is highly recommended for sports fans, especially Syracuse supporters, and coaches interested in learning from one of the most triumphant.—Katie McGaha, Simi Valley P.L., CA

Library Journal

2014-10-07
An autobiography from a legendary coaching lifer.In 1962, Boeheim (b. 1944), a native of tiny Lyons, New York, walked on to the Syracuse University basketball team as a lightly touted freshman, eventually earning a scholarship. In the fall of 2014, he will begin his 39th season as head coach of the Orange. In 2003, Boeheim won the national championship after several near misses, and in 2006, he was elected to the coaches' wing of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Only Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has more wins in the history of Division I. In this memoir, Boeheim's voice rings through clearly, a tribute to both the coach and to his co-author McCallum, a respected veteran basketball writer (Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever, 2012, etc.). Boeheim keeps his focus on the college game, its evolution and his experience as the most visible person at Syracuse, although he shares relevant details of his personal biography as well. Basketball junkies will especially value the coach's insights. Every two or three chapters, Boeheim breaks up the narrative with one of nine multipage "coaches notes" from the 2013-2014 season; these provide additional insight into Boeheim's passion and preparation as well as his philosophies in dealing with players, officials, and peers on and off the court. Syracuse was an inaugural member of the Big East Conference that helped to transform college basketball in the 1980s, highlighting a tough, hard-fought style of play and larger-than-life coaching personalities, of which Boeheim was one of the more prominent. The tales from the Big East in its heyday mark some of the highlights of the book, as do his coaching insights. Sometimes accused of being a complainer on the court, Boeheim comes across as likable in this readable, thoughtful book about coaching college basketball.

Kirkus Reviews