Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim tests positive for COVID-19, team activity paused
Longtime Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, he announced on social media.
Boeheim said he underwent routine coronavirus testing, was informed of the positive test on Sunday and immediately started isolating at home. He is not experiencing any symptoms.
I wanted to share the following statement from me: pic.twitter.com/cwop38MhyN
— Jim Boeheim (@therealboeheim) November 15, 2020
The program then halted all team activities on Sunday. One other member of the program has also tested positive, athletic director John Wildhack said in a statement. It’s not clear if the other positive test came from a coach, player or other staff member.
“Our top priority is the health and well-being of our student-athletes, Coach Boeheim and all members of the basketball program,” Wildhack said in a statement. “Per our COVID safety protocols, following Coach’s positive test, we conducted an additional round of testing for all members of the basketball program. From that testing we learned that one other member of the program has tested positive. As such, we made the decision to pause all basketball-related activities.
“We are following all CDC guidelines and ACC protocols, and working closely with the Onondaga County Department of Health, to mitigate further transmission of the virus. All members of the basketball program will be tested again, multiple times, over the next week.”
Boeheim has been with Syracuse since 1976 and led the Orange to 34 NCAA tournaments. They’ve reached the Final Four five times under his watch and won the title in 2003. The 75-year-old has compiled a 1,065-339 overall record in his 44 seasons there and was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005. He has the second-most wins among any active Division I men’s coach, behind Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.
Boeheim is at least the second prominent college basketball coach to test positive for the coronavirus, following Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. The 65-year-old announced last week that he was experiencing minor symptoms.
Syracuse is currently set to open its season on Nov. 27 against Bryant.
There were more than 11 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Sunday afternoon, according to The New York Times, and more than 245,000 deaths attributed to it. The country repeatedly set single-day records over the past week and is now averaging more than 145,000 new cases a day, while the virus is surging like never before.
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