Legendary coach Jim Boeheim was never a fan of bad press.
The former Syracuse University basketball coach was notoriously thin-skinned when it came to criticism from the media and longtime local radio host Brent Axe believes Boeheim got him fired for his supposedly “dark and negative comments” on the team just a week after the coach retired.
“Look, I can’t prove that Jim Boeheim had me fired, JAG, but I will go to my grave believing it was done to appease him,” Axe told Jon “JAG” Gay on the “WJPZ at 50” podcast.
“When Ed Levine talked on the record to Syracuse.com and the reasons for firing me, I mean, that is almost word-for-word what he said to me when it was an inquiry about Jim Boeheim that set him off with that. I can’t prove it. I can’t prove it was done as an order by Jim Boeheim. To use a mafia term, JAG, if he ordered the hit or not. I can’t prove that. But I will go to my grave believing it was done as a hat-tip to Boeheim.”
Axe, who worked for ESPN Syracuse Radio and was a Syracuse alumnus, believes Boeheim’s affiliation as part owner of Galaxy Media Partners, the company that operates the radio station, makes it easy to connect the dots.
“It’s announced on a Saturday [Boeheim] has more involvement in Galaxy Media,” Axe said. “I get fired on a Sunday. Like, listen, I don’t think we have to go to a whole episode of ‘Law & Order’ to figure out what went on here.”
Galaxy Media Partners CEO Ed Levine came out and said tAxe was fired mainly because of “overly negative” comments about Syracuse as well as being a part of an “agenda” related to his position with Syracuse.com.
Axe, however, did not believe that reasoning.
“I had a responsibility to give an honest, fair, and thorough opinion to my audience,” the former radio host said. “We put listeners on the air, and we gave them the opportunity to say what they needed to say.”
