Syracuse University fired longtime basketball assistant coach Bernie Fine last night — just hours after a bombshell recording emerged of his wife telling a man accusing him of sex abuse that she “[knows] everything.”
Fine, 65, who had been a coach at the national powerhouse for 36 seasons, was originally placed on administrative leave earlier this month after two former ball boys accused him of molesting them.
But the university said it was compelled to fire Fine after a third accuser came forward and ESPN played a recorded phone conversation between his wife, Laurie Fine, and Bobby Davis, one of the ball boys.
VIDEO: SYRACUSE COACH FIRED AMID ABUSE CHARGES
In a startling twist, Davis also claims he had an affair with Laurie when he was 18 years old.
“In the wake of troubling new allegations, I am writing to let you know that Bernie Fine’s employment has been terminated effective immediately,” school chancellor Nancy Cantor wrote to students and staff.
In the phone conversation, which took place in 2002, Laurie Fine asks Davis, “What did he want you to do? You can be honest with me.”
Davis said Fine touched him but denied any oral sex, adding, “I think he would want to.”
“Oh, of course he would,” Laurie Fine responded. “Why wouldn’t he?”
“I know everything that went on, you know,” she also allegedly said on the call. “I know everything that went on with him … Bernie has issues, maybe that he’s not aware of, but he has issues … And you trusted somebody you shouldn’t have trusted.”
Davis also told ESPN that Laurie Fine once witnessed the abuse.
ESPN said an “independent audio analyst” confirmed Davis was speaking with Laurie Fine.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, who furiously defended his longtime assistant when the allegations were first made, backtracked last night, saying he supports the university’s decision.
“I deeply regret any statements I made that might have … been insensitive to victims of abuse,” said Boeheim, adding that he finds the newest accusations “disturbing and deeply troubling.”
Davis, now 39, told ESPN that Bernie Fine began molesting him in 1984, and continued until he was 27 years old. He said the attacks occurred at Fine’s home, at school facilities and on road trips — including the 1987 Final Four.
Davis’ stepbrother, Mike Lang, 45, told ESPN that Fine began molesting him, too, and the abuse occurred as many as 20 times.
And a third accuser, Zach Tomaselli, 23, said yesterday Fine molested him in 2002 in a hotel room in Pittsburgh after he was invited along with the team on a road trip.
Tomaselli, who is charged in Maine with sexual assault in a case involving a 14-year-old boy, said he has filed an affidavit with Syracuse police.
Fine has denied all allegations.