Jim Boeheim’s New Play: Teaching Leadership at Syracuse

Legendary men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim trades the hardwood for the classroom as an adjunct professor in the Falk College of Sport.
Cathleen O'Hare Nov. 12, 2025

Former Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim ’66, G’73, who spent 47 years leading his alma mater’s program, has a new title at the University: adjunct professor in the David B. Falk College of Sport.

Boeheim, alongside David B. Falk Emeritus Professor Rick Burton, is teaching the sport management class From the Bench to the Boardroom: Lessons in Leadership.

The class provides a comprehensive overview of the leadership process, daily operations and working relationships found in every corporate or business setting. Students are studying leadership using professional and intercollegiate sport as a means to better understand the process of building team chemistry, discipline and goal-setting.

Prominent guests so far this semester have included another Hall of Fame basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey and Heather Lyke, special advisor to the chancellor and athletic director at Syracuse.

In the above video, Coach Boeheim discusses this new chapter in his career and students share their impressions of “Professor Boeheim.”

Video captured, edited and produced by Amy Manley, senior multimedia producer