Washington to Hire Syracuse's Mike Hopkins

Well, this was way off the radar in terms of who Washington would hire. Mike Hopkins, the longtime assistant at Syracuse an heir apparent to Jim Boehiem. That coach-in-waiting tag was applied in 2007 and it seems like Boeheim won’t retire until he dies. The plan was for Boeheim to retire after next year and Hopkins take over. That seems less likely now with this move.

While Hopkins has been at Syracuse since 1995, he is from California originally so this at least is a move that seems logical in the sense of him getting back closer to ‘home.’ The question is does Hopkins leave for Syracuse now immediately after Boeheim retires making Washington look again?

I don’t have a strong feeling on this hire either way as we don’t know a ton about Hopkins as a head coach. He went 4-5 when he filled in when Boeheim was suspended. The important thing will be filling out a staff with someone who has ties to Seattle. There is a good amount of talent locally that Hopkins can continue to recruit. In terms of Michael Porter Jr., I doubt this sways him to stay.

From a Syracuse standpoint, the thought process is McNamara will continue to climb up as an assistant coach. It wouldn’t shock me if there’s success with Hopkins at Washington to see McNamara possibly be the replacement for Boeheim. They do lose a staple as the head assistant, but expect to see Boeheim on the bench for more than one last year.