Syracuse University has fired Bernie Fine as an assistant men’s basketball coach, a school spokesman announced Sunday night, hours after new reports arose regarding his alleged sexual abuse of boys.
“At the direction of Chancellor Cantor, Bernie Fine’s employment with Syracuse University has been terminated, effective immediately,” Kevin Quinn said in a statement, referring to Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor.
Fine was placed on administrative leave earlier this month, after former Syracuse ball boy Bobby Davis and his stepbrother, Mike Lang, accused him of molesting them.
Police opened an investigation on the matter on November 17, Syracuse police Sgt. Tom Connellan said.
The Syracuse-based Post-Standard newspaper and ESPN both reported Sunday the existence of a recording of a 2002 phone conversation that they said Davis had recorded between him and the coach’s wife.
Davis provided the recording to the Post-Standard soon after it was recorded, but the newspaper then declined to report on it because it couldn’t find “witnesses, enough corroborating evidence or a second accuser.”
