Coach Search Options after Autry

[phil77]

Say they are crazy enough to make this hire, they would need to find a way to publicize the funding that is coming with it. But again I don't know if that will even be enough. The data doesn't support Hopkins ability to produce greatness with talent. Atleast the players that play with him with NBA talent potential still move on to the NBA.

I don't think people will get behind Hopkins the way they think they will, even with the money and local media pumping him up. The casuals and even a lot of the die hards are looking for change

 

[LAorange44]

He was. But only one of those 2 teams made the NCAAT, which shows how much they were valued. And after that he went 70-84. So yeah, a complete flop.

Washington is also 27-42 since Hopper left. Maybe there are some systemic issues in the programs

 

[Sherman20]

Outside of Syracuse, I wonder how much college basketball Melo watched this year? I mean, he is the expert making the coaching hire, so I imagine he has gone through hours of tape and watched all the up-and-coming coaches to give Syracuse the best coaching hire he could. He can tell me what kind of offensive and defensive systems everyone runs etc. I am sure he has done this homework.

And his homework led him to Hopkins, a coach who was fired from his P4 job with a .527 winning percentage and the tournament only once in 6 years despite multiple NBA players on his roster. That coach was so heavily thought of in the college ranks, he didn't get another job, so he went to be an assistant NBA coach where that NBA team was awful and then was let go from that position and now is in charge of player development for a losing team. After doing a national search, Melo said yes man, that is the guy for sure to lead Syracuse. I know it.

I will say I expressed this worry a month or two ago about Melo getting involved in the coaching search and mucking things up. I said my fear was he’d push some NBA coach, ala Indiana hiring Mike Woodson. I just didn’t even consider the possibility of Hop, because his record at Washington was so bad.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I’m not advocating either way, but didn’t Hop win PAC-12 coach of the year his first two seasons. I believe he had two starters including his PG and star center out the entire season with injuries his last year as well. Again, not making excuses or saying he was John Wooden. But I don’t believe he was a complete flop.

Injuries happen everywhere. After 7 years you are who you are. He averaged 70 ppg!!! That’s awful.

 

[Cappy3]

Washington is also 27-42 since Hopper left. Maybe there are some systemic issues in the programs

How many first round draft picks have they had since he left? After all, he did manage to go 15-17 with TWO first round picks. So maybe he brought on the “systemic issues”. And it’s not like the Pac 10 was the B10 or SEC. That’s why it’s gone.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I don't think people will get behind Hopkins the way they think they will, even with the money and local media pumping him up. The casuals and even a lot of the die hards are looking for change

The PR is going to be a disaster. The national media will be all over it.

 

[sufan59]

Injuries happen everywhere. After 7 years you are who you are. He averaged 70 ppg!!! That’s awful.

We've seen plenty of teams in this season navigate without their best player and still win games, sometimes actually looking better. Our biggest win of the season is without our best player.

 

[crv1728]

Great video, love Hop from his time here, hell my Mom liked Hop but man...

that Washington tenure and 4-5 interim record here, scare me...

If I remember correctly, we got blown out by St. John’s at home with Hop at the interim helm, and that scared many fans.

 

[RedtheGOB]

I’m pretty sure an email from “RedtheGOB” will be all the sway necessary.

Not like politicians give 2 craps about me either but a vote is a vote.

 

[LAorange44]

How many first round draft picks have they had since he left? After all, he did manage to go 15-17 with TWO first round picks. So maybe he brought on the “systemic issues”. And it’s not like the Pac 10 was the B10 or SEC. That’s why it’s gone.

Washington’s problems are bigger than Hop. Romar’s last 5 years were 79-83.

 

[Irishsecra1]

I have been a fan since Roy's runts. I have bled orange since then.
Thru the many highs and the recent lows.
Things could have gone better at the end with JB but I was never ashamed of the team while he was there, still went to all the games and still watched even tough games with the belief that we always had a good chance to win. Cussed out the universe when Buddy was suspended a game and thus we lost our final game that year. Always felt with Jim's teams that there was always a sense of hope that he could pull a rabbit out of his hat.

Fan bases live on hope and belief that things will get better next year.

I have never ever felt that way with Red, and this last year it has been really hard to drag my ass to my seats and sometimes on away games drag my butt in front of the TV.

I am sure that deep down Red cares about the team but dear God his press conferences are so vanilla, so bland, so meh that hope dies, albeit a slow death.

I want a coach that cares, that knows how to coach, that can change our awful culture, that can make the players play their hearts out.
That can restore hope to all of us.

Perhaps that is the main reason that I would love to see GMAC as coach because, if nothing else, he would care and show it, he would change the culture, he would make the players play hard and tough like he did when he was at SU and won the national championship.

But it is probably too soon for him to take on this massive project so I understand if people want to go elsewhere for a coach.

Is it Hop? I never watched any Washington games so I have no idea why he went off the rails after 2 years of winning coach of the year.

Can he restore hope? The only thing that I am sure of is if Melo dumps 15 to 20 million of money a year into the program that we will have at least a 2 to 3 year ride where we wont be ashamed to admit we are SU fans and wont be watching TV games thru half closed eyes. I do believe that Hop is good enough with that kind of backing to at least get us back to the NCAAT. Then, even after Melo leaves after 3 years, we will at least have a new winning tradition that perhaps we can build on.

Is it BH? I know nothing about the dude except he appears to be highly respected by many in the know on this board. It seems his only negative is he wont bring the kind of money Melo can and will have to probably make due with a 3rd of the financial support that Hop can bring.

So, the question is for me, who will have the better results over the next 3 years.
Hop with all the money thrown into players and assistant coaches, or BH with a lower level of player talent and assistant talent because of less funds.

Honestly, at this point, I am sick of waiting for results. These last 2 years have been one long nightmare, and 3 years ago with the unmanageable team wasn't much better.

 

[RF2044]

Yes, insiders have hinted that Melo's big NIL$ will not appear if Hop is not the next coach.

I think picking Hop is a losing strategy too but there are also no 100% guarantee no matter who is the next coach.

That shouldn't prevent the administration from trying to land the best coach they can, period.

Nothing in life is guaranteed. But the best way to guarantee a higher likelihood of failure is by hiring under-qualified people into high respnonsibility, performance driven roles.

None of this has much to do with your response specifically, Owens guy, just responding with my general thoughts.

 

[kingtidge]

Washington is also 27-42 since Hopper left. Maybe there are some systemic issues in the programs

Glad we're not alone.

 

[phil77]

Lets give that guy 30+ mil

 

[RedtheGOB]

I don't think people will get behind Hopkins the way they think they will, even with the money and local media pumping him up. The casuals and even a lot of the die hards are looking for change

For sure right. Thinking about it from another angle.

People would be more likely to get behind the decision more quickly if they knew top tier players were on their way with the extra money.

Since there’s no guarantee on the players a it’s going to take longer to get those guys in the portal there’s going to be anger upfront with either of the coaching front runners.

 

[Blanko97]

I don’t know if you’re a poster or lurker here, but people are noticing the weird shift on twitter. Imagine what people are thinking who don’t know about the 30 mill plus and that Melo is behind it with the context of Hopkins and still many aren’t sold. Still, I hope they are noticing the fan base wants an outsider.

All this shows is the local media gets their news from here lol

 

[CardiacCuse]

Hop has donors and may be open to surrounding himself with coaching minds better than his.

how many successful coaches outsource the mental part of the job?

 

[Orangezoo]

And we know who has the much higher upside. And this will be the only time to hire that coach.

Hopefully Wildhack realizes that and makes the right move.

If you take the (allegedly) bigger money with Hop, you do so realizing that instead being late year 2/early year 3 when the Dome is empty with Red, you could still be in December of year 1 when the lukewarm faith to start with picking Hop is as ice cold as it is right now with Red.

This is what befuddles me about even considering it with a large sum of money - the bottom could fall out of this experiment before 2027 even starts… all this with a higher likelihood of failure with Hop vs BH given what we’ve seen with both so far small sample or not.

 

[NKR1978]

For sure right. Thinking about it from another angle.

People would be more likely to get behind the decision more quickly if they knew top tier players were on their way with the extra money.

Since there’s no guarantee on the players a it’s going to take longer to get those guys in the portal there’s going to be anger upfront with either of the coaching front runners.

We're just going to overpay for mediocrity with a mediocre coach who won't be able to coach them up.

 

[sufan59]

The PR is going to be a disaster. The national media will be all over it.

If you polled National Media members and the most knowledgable College Basketball knowers, they would say Syracuse should hire Bryan Hodgson. I quote from a user at The Boneyard on February 16th, 2026

"Agree that GMac has done an admirable job at Siena, but I can’t see Southern Canada continuing with the JB coaching tree. They cannot swing and miss on the next hire. With Wildhack retiring in July and the chancellor moving on, there’s no way they are waiting til summer when the AD would be very late to make a hire. Methinks they’ve already back-channeled feelers, and it’s Bryan Hodgson from South Florida. Upstate NY guy. Grew up a Cuse fan. No brainer. But then again, not a lot of brains in that athletic dept."


While we continue to not be good, as a fan of College Basketball, I feel like I've actually got myself a little outside the Syracuse Basketball bubble with my following of the sport. You learn a lot, I know many here as well have done the same.

 

[RF2044]

I don't think people will get behind Hopkins the way they think they will, even with the money and local media pumping him up. The casuals and even a lot of the die hards are looking for change

I agree.

After the "in house" route flopped so spectacularly this time, it is going to be an uphill sell to the fanbase. Yes, some fans will get behind whichever candidate is hired -- but others are going to be skeptical.

Not to be vulgar, but you can't urinate down people's backs and tell them it's raining for too long. If the AD hires Hopkins, they are going to have to live with the backlash / consequences from an already disgrunted fanbase. Doing the same thing twice and hoping for a different result is going to be a tough pill for a SIGNIFICANT portion of the fanbase to swallow, no matter WHAT the ostensible accompanying NIL is.

And that is real, not just a jaded opinion.

 

[powdersmack]

And we tried the faith without evidence thing, didn’t we?

Well, we have seven years evidence on Hop. And none of it is good.

 

[powdersmack]

I agree.

After the "in house" route flopped so spectacularly this time, it is going to be an uphill sell to the fanbase. Yes, some fans will get behind whichever candidate is hired -- but others are going to be skeptical.

Not to be vulgar, but you can't urinate down people's backs and tell them it's raining for too long. If the AD hires Hopkins, they are going to have to live with the backlash / consequences from an already disgrunted fanbase.

And that is real, not just a jaded opinion.

Absolutely. And those announced crowds of 12,000 with 4000 actual butts in the seats is going to look GREAT on tv.

 

[Newhouser]

With Melo$ connection$ he has to have a better choice than Hop. The whole thing is odd.

 

[LpoolNative]

As is Lally's. Why doesn't anyone ever say that? My point has been
we need unity. And I don't see us getting it.

Maybe down the line but I don’t see any unity in the foreseeable future. Always a bunch of drama.