Gerry McNamara, a former top player at Syracuse who ultimately rose to associate head coach for the Orange, has agreed to take over as coach at Siena. McNamara chose to leave Syracuse after 20 years as an outstanding player, assistant, and coach.
Siena confirmed McNamara’s signing on Friday, making him the first-ever collegiate head coach. He takes over for Carmen Maciariello, a former Siena student who was sacked after five seasons of 68-72 results, including a 4-28 record this season.
Since 2009, McNamara has been a member of the Syracuse coaching staff. He began his tenure as a graduate assistant in 2009 and worked as an assistant under Jim Boeheim for almost ten years until joining the Orange as associate head coach last season.
when head coach Adrian Autry assumed his position.
Only Laurence Moten, Derrick Coleman, and John Wallace have scored more goals in Syracuse history than the 40-year-old McNamara. He began his career with Carmelo Anthony’s Syracuse squad, which won the national championship in 2003. McNamara scored eighteen points in the Orange’s 81-78 victory over Kansas in the NCAA title game, all of which came from 3-point range.
As the new head men’s basketball coach at Siena College, McNamara declared, “I am so honored and excited to lead Siena College.” “I’m eager to get going and embrace Siena and the Capital Region with my family.”
During his playing career at Syracuse, he started all 135 games and is still the school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made by a massive margin (400 to be exact).
ahead of Joseph Girard III (297) and Buddy Boeheim (309). In addition, McNamara leads Syracuse’s all-time records in minutes played (4,799) and free-throw percentage (.888).
Before going back to Syracuse to teach, he played in Europe and in the league that is now known as the NBA G League.
The home games of Siena, a team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, are held in Albany, which is located around 150 miles east of Syracuse.
Over the years, the small school has frequently been used as a coaching launching pad. For example, Fran McCaffery, who left Siena after three seasons to coach at Iowa, made three consecutive runs to the NCAA Tournament; Paul Hewitt, who took his first Division I job at Siena and left after three seasons to lead Georgia Tech to the national championship game; Mike Deane, who was a fixture at Siena before leaving to join Marquette; and Rob Lanier, the new coach at Rice, was once a Siena coach.
The Orange player and assistant Louis Orr led Siena to a share of the 2000–01 MAAC regular-season title before leaving for Seton Hall. This is not the first time the school has taken the Syracuse–to–Siena route.
“Gerry’s remarkable career and winning record at Syracuse University, along with his outstanding abilities in developing young talent, are a wonderful fit with the high standards and legendary history of Siena basketball,” Siena President Chuck Siefert stated. “His appointment represents Siena’s rise in the larger collegiate landscape in addition to just bringing back championship success, which is a standard our fans rightfully expect.”
One of McNamara’s assets is his recruitment skills, which will be crucial to Siena’s turnaround. This season, there are 351 clubs that are officially members of Division I.
The only teams with poorer records than the Saints were DePaul (3-29), Coppin State (2-27), Mississippi Valley (1-30), and Detroit Mercy (1-31).
