Jim Boeheim advocates for gun control after his 900th victory

Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim (Kevin Rivoli / Associated Press)

By Houston Mitchell

December 18, 2012, 7:09 a.m.

Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim on Monday night became only the third coach in NCAA men's basketball Division I history to win 900 games, as his team defeated Detroit, 72-68. With a crowd of media members assembled around him to ask about the feat, Boeheim decided to talk about something else: Gun control.

"If we cannot get the people who represent us to do something about firearms, we are a sad, sad society," Boeheim said, speaking in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting tragedy. "If one person in this world, the NRA president, anybody, can tell me why we need assault weapons with 30 shots -- this is our fault if we don't go out there and do something about this. If we can't get this thing done, I don't know what kind of country we have."

Boeheim, 68, is 900-304 and joins Mike Krzyzewski (936) and Bob Knight (902) at 900 victories.

"To me, it's just a number," Boeheim said. "If I get 900, have I got to get more? That's why maybe it's just not that important to me, because to me it's just a number, and the only number that matters is how this team does."

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Comments (10)

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stnlong71 at 3:36 PM December 18, 2012

Boeheim talking about gun control is his choice. Since he is on the welfare of society kick, he should next come out against pedophilia. Wouldn't you say, Houston?

latimesreader90703 at 9:20 AM December 18, 2012

Thank you for your voice of reason.

I haven't heard any reasonable answer to the question of why we need assault weapons, other than because we can and we want to.

Unfortunately, stricter gun control probably would not eliminate crazy people from killing others, but without assault weapons, the number of people killed would be reduced, and isn't even one life worth it?

Freedom comes with responsibility. Just because we can have something, it doesn't mean we should. Assault weapons do not belong in the hands of the public. Limit it to the military as it was intended.

Malagate at 9:15 AM December 18, 2012

However much he knows about basketball, he is just another idiot liberal when it comes to guns and gun ownership. So naturally he gets an article spreading his views in the Times.

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