By Hal Bock
The Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. - On the Syracuse sideline, Jim Boeheim rides a wave of emotions. Sometimes he's serene, sometimes frenetic, yet always involved.

Make a bad pass and his eyebrows arch like a chemistry professor wondering where a student came up with that answer.

Make a bad call and his arms stretch out with palms turned up, amazed at how an official could make an outrageous mistake like that.

He's been in the cauldron of college coaching for 27 years now, all at Syracuse, longer than any current coach has stayed at the same place. He remains one of the most successful practitioners in the business, his dossier crammed with 650 victories and one win away from a third trip to the Final Four. His .742 winning percentage is third among active Division I coaches. He is seventh among active coaches in wins and 22nd all-time.

Not bad for a walk-on who had to talk his way on to the team when he arrived at Syracuse in 1962. By the time he was a senior, he was starting in the backcourt alongside Hall of Famer Dave Bing. After four years of minor league basketball, he returned to the Syracuse bench as a graduate assistant in 1969, and he's been there ever since, appointed head coach in 1976 with a first contract that paid him $28,000.

"It's the only thing I know," he said. "I don't like change. I eat in the same restaurants. I've gone to the same barber since I was 17. I'm comfortable where I'm comfortable."

That's not to say there haven't been other opportunities.

"The first few years, when we started winning, there were calls," Boeheim said. "I never took them. I took an interview in my house once. It was a talking session. Ten minutes into it, I knew I was not going to go. I don't think you get jobs or offers unless people know you're looking. The NBA might have interested me. To coach at that level might have been interesting. That time is past for me.

"It became clear to me a number of years ago that I was not going to leave Syracuse."

Boeheim's voice is scratchy these days, the effect of some combination of hay fever and a cold. He sniffles and snorts through interviews but shrugs it off. "Nothing's going to affect me," he said. "As long as I don't have to run up and down the court, I'll be fine."

He looks in pain, but it could be worse. He could be out of the tournament, explaining failure to a demanding community of fans who never seem able to understand how the Orangemen ever lose.

"I can get anybody on my side," he said. "It just takes 27 years."

Mellowed with age

Boeheim is especially proud of the young team that faces No. 1 seed Oklahoma for the East Regional title on Sunday. He's been hailed for the way he guided the Orangemen through the season to the precipice of the Final Four, and that has made him a finalist for Naismith Coach of the Year Award.

Did he view it as one of his best coaching jobs?

"It's better than if it were one of my worst coaching jobs," Boeheim said. "If this is my best, maybe it's only the best of a lot of bad ones. Coaches are like quarterbacks. Some years, they get too much credit. Some years, they get too much blame.

"This team has been easy to coach, as long as you ignore some of the dumb things they're going to do."

There was a time when Boeheim had trouble doing that, but he has mellowed over the years, more willing to accept mistakes by his players.

Kueth Duany has been part of the program for five years. "Coach doesn't change," he said. "What you see is what you get. He keeps things simple. He doesn't like to change a lot during a game. Do what you can do and you'll be all right.

"Every coach yells. A lot of coaches yell and get in your face. Coach Boeheim is very intense during a game. He gets in your face and lets you know you can't be doing that."

Prized freshman Carmelo Anthony likes Boeheim's style.

"He's funny," Anthony said. "Off the court he's funny and on the court he's funny. But on the court he's funny in another way. He stays on you. He just wants you to be the best that you can be."

The best for Boeheim has been to coach at Syracuse, where students claim there are two seasons - winter and the Fourth of July. He has been an expert recruiter, luring players to central New York despite the climate.

"It's a great place to live," he said. "For eight months a year, we have the best weather in the country. The other four months we're playing basketball, so you don't worry about it."