After the Syracuse men's basketball team manhandled Eastern Michigan on Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome, head coach Jim Boeheim held his first press conference since the firing of former assistant coach Bernie Fine, who is being investigated by police following accusations from three men that the coach sexually molested them while they were boys.
To open the press conference, Boeheim read a prepared statement, expressing his sadness over what has unfolded at the university.
"I'm looking forward to a time when we can talk and learn from what has happened," he said. "There is an important investigation going on, which I fully support. And I can't add anything to that by speaking more about that now. The investigation and all that we can learn from it is what is important."
The 67-year-old coach laughed wryly when a reporter asked about his job status, stating that he has never worried about his status in 36 years at Syracuse. Before the game, University Chancellor Nancy Cantor had given Boeheim a vote of confidence, saying "Boeheim is our coach."
"I do my job. What happened on my watch, we will see. When the investigation is done, we will find out what happened on my watch," Boeheim said sternly. "We don't know what happened on my watch right now. there's an investigation underway. There are no charges. There are no indictments. There is no grand jury. There is no action being taken. When that is done, then we will see what has happened on my watch."
Later, per Peter Thamel of The New York Times, Boeheim discussed the firing of Fine and said he has "zero say in who is hired, fired, assigned or whatever you want to say."
He then revealed that has not heard the tape-recorded conversation from 2002 between Bernie's wife, Laurie, and Bobby Davis, one of the alleged victims. ESPN's "Outside the Line" aired the phone call over the weekend following Thanksgiving, in which Laurie admitted knowledge of the abuse to Davis.
At the end of the presser, Boeheim was said to have waved his typed statement one more time before walking away.