{"id":182899,"date":"2026-03-25T22:24:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=182899"},"modified":"2026-03-25T22:24:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:24:05","slug":"was-gerry-mcnamara-the-right-hire-for-syracuse-can-he-return-the-orange-to-national-prominence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/25\/was-gerry-mcnamara-the-right-hire-for-syracuse-can-he-return-the-orange-to-national-prominence\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Gerry McNamara The Right Hire For Syracuse And Can He Return The Orange To National Prominence"},"content":{"rendered":"

After having eight coaches from the inception (1904) of the Syracuse basketball program to 2020, the Orange are on their third coach this decade. Was keeping it in the family the right choice for the Orange, and what does Gerry McNamara<\/a> bring to the program?<\/p>\n

Syracuse<\/a> is one of the original Blue Bloods in college basketball, though the Orange have fallen on hard times recently. As a result, new Orange athletic director Bryan Blair brought back former SU player and assistant coach Gerry McNamara<\/a> to turn the program around.<\/p>\n

Was Gerry McNamara The Right Hire For Syracuse, And Can He Return The Orange To National Prominence<\/h2>\n

“<\/span>Gerry McNamara<\/dfn>\u00a0is who our storied basketball program needs at this important moment,” said Blair<\/a>. “In every conversation, his competitive fire and passion were undeniable\u2014it’s simply part of his DNA. He returns to Syracuse as a proven Division I head coach who led a program through a turnaround and back to the NCAA Tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

McNamera becomes Syracuse’s 10th coach in program after leading the Siena Saints<\/a> for the past two seasons. The 42-year-old coach led the Saints to the NCAA Tournament — where Siena gave top-seeded Duke all they could handle in the first round — for the first time since 2009-10.<\/p>\n

After posting a 14-18 record in year one, McNamara directed the Saints to a 23-12 mark this past year. The Saints won the 2026 MAAC Tournament title after finishing third during the regular season. The Saints were one of the best offensive teams in the MAAC — leading the conference in field goal percentage (47.3%)\u00a0 — though they were only 189th in offensive efficiency. On the other hand, the Saints were one of the top defensive teams in the nation, ranking 64th\u00a0 in defensive efficiency and 16th in scoring at 65.8 points.<\/p>\n

Syracuse, the seventh-winningest program with 2,104 victories, has one national championship and six Final Four appearances in 41 NCAA Tournament<\/a> appearances. The Orange have also won 15 conference titles, including 10 regular-season crowns.\u00a0 However, the Orange haven’t made the NCAA Tournament in five years and were only 49-48 in Adrian Autry’s<\/a> three campaigns. They are 24-34 in the last three seasons in ACC play.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Bob Donnan, Imagn Images\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Who Is Gerry McNamara?<\/h3>\n

McNamara, from Scranton (Pa), was a consensus top-50 recruit in 2002 and picked Syracuse over several offers, including Duke and Florida. He had quite a collegiate career, finishing with over 2000 points, 600 assists, 400 threes, and 250 steals.<\/p>\n

McNamara, along with Carmelo Anthony<\/a> and Hakim Warrick<\/a>, led the Orange to the 2023 NCAA national championship. McNamara was a three-time All-Big East selection (twice first team) and the 2006 Big East Tournament MVP. He ranks (25th) in scoring, 19th in assists, 13th in steals, and second in free-throw percentage.<\/p>\n

After graduating, McNamara appeared in 6 games in Europe over 2 seasons while also totaling 58 appearances in the NBA G League over 2 seasons.\u00a0 McNamara returned to Syracuse in 2009 as a grad manager and was promoted to assistant coach in 2011. He was promoted to associate head coach after Autry was hired to replace Jim Boeheim<\/a> in 20223. However, Siena came calling after just one season on Autry’s staff.<\/p>\n

“I love this place. I love what Syracuse means: to the fans, to the players who have worn this jersey, to the people of Central New York. This program has given me everything, and I am ready to give everything back to it,” said McNamara at his press conference. “College basketball has changed. How you build a program, recruit talent, compete for resources, and win looks different than it did even five years ago. I know that. I’m ready for it. What hasn’t changed is what Orange Nation expects, and what this place deserves. We are going to build something special here.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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What Does McNamera Bring To The Orange As A Head Coach?<\/h3>\n

While McNamera is seen as a rising coaching star, he wasn’t Syracuse’s first choice. According to James Szuba of Yahoo Sports<\/a>, the Orange also pursued \u00a0St. Louis\u2019s Josh Schertz<\/a>, Stanford\u2019s Kyle Smith,<\/a> and Bryan Hodgson<\/a>, who has taken the job at Providence this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McNamara is one of the most beloved figures in Syracuse history, and his return instantly re\u2011energizes the fan base.\u00a0 He also has a long track record of developing guards and recruiting high\u2011level talent.<\/p>\n

McNamara is expected to install a guard-centric offense emphasizing pace and space. McNamara prefers his offense to “read and react”, which is the best basketball strategy against defenses, rather than using set plays. His preference at Siena was early offense, with heavy use of ball screens and dribble handoffs.<\/p>\n

Defensively, McNamara is expected to play man-to-man while throwing in a zone defense to disrupt an offense’s rhythm.\u00a0 He also wants to put pressure on opposing offenses by pestering the ball handler and switching on the perimeter.<\/p>\n

“McNamara has only given Syracuse everything \u2014 both metaphorical and literal blood, sweat, and tears. He gave his loyalty and servitude as a graduate assistant all the way up to assistant and associate head coach,” Szuba said. “Is there any reason to believe he wouldn\u2019t do the same as Syracuse\u2019s head coach? You won\u2019t find a soul in Syracuse that has a bad thing to say about McNamara. Ever the competitor, there\u2019s no question the steely-eyed coach can motivate and get the most out of his players. There will be no communication breakdowns. Dialogue from McNamara will be clear, concise, and direct.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Can McNamara Be Successful At SU?<\/h4>\n

McNamara will have to replace three starters, but if Donnie Freeman<\/a> and Kiyan Anthony<\/a> return, he should have plenty of talent. Naithan George<\/a> had some great games, while Sadiq White<\/a> and Tyler Betsey<\/a> showed signs of development late in the year.<\/p>\n

Syracuse has no commitments from the class of 2026. But Siena star guard Gavin Doty<\/a>, who entered the NCAA transfer portal today<\/a>, has been linked to the Orange.\u00a0 Doty is from Fulton (NY), a Syracuse suburb.<\/p>\n

“I plan on playing for G-Mac through my whole career,” Doty told reporters<\/a> after Duke defeated Siena in the NCAA Tournament.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Syracuse is expected to increase its NIL spending, per Szuba. The Orange reportedly hopes to have a $9 million NIL budget next year.<\/p>\n

Depending on how the roster looks this fall, SU projects to win 17 to 22 games next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After having eight coaches from the inception (1904) of the Syracuse basketball program to 2020, the Orange are on their third coach this decade. Was keeping it in the family the right choice for the Orange, and what does Gerry McNamara bring to the program? Syracuse is one of the original Blue Bloods in college […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":183612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773,2,3],"tags":[3120,49822,1075],"class_list":["post-182899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","category-featured","category-news","tag-acc-basketball","tag-adrian-autry","tag-syracuse-orange"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182899"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183613,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182899\/revisions\/183613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}