Gerry McNamara needs to be the next coach | Page 37 | Syracusefan.com

Gerry McNamara needs to be the next coach

I think it’s fair to say, that regardless of the success possibilities, Gmac would up the dome attendance by a mile at game 1.
I’m not so sure about that. I sit in section 123 for basketball and several fans are undecided about renewing season tickets. They want nothing to do with Hop or GMAC. The casual fan may show up, but long time supporters are completely fed up with the status quo and JB’s family tree. They want a clean break.
 
I’m not so sure about that. I sit in section 123 for basketball and several fans are undecided about renewing season tickets. They want nothing to do with Hop or GMAC. The casual fan may show up, but long time supporters are completely fed up with the status quo and JB’s family tree. They want a clean break.

I agree, I’m not sold on the idea hiring Gerry automatically translates into ticket sales. But more importantly - I don’t care because it’s irrelevant. Even if it’s a 100.% certain revenue boost for year 1, by year 2 sales are going to be dictated by wins.

There’s a weird twist in the pro-Gerry spin. They say we should hire Gerry because he’s a Syracuse guy that will boost ticket sales on day 1. Then they accuse people who point out hiring the most qualified person is a good idea of just wanting change for change sake and not wanting Gerry because he’s a Syracuse guy. They keep using “Syracuse guy” as primary selling point, pretending somehow that makes him the best candidate, denying that’s what they are doing and claiming the ONLY reason people don’t want him is because they just want change. I compared it earlier to a “but I love him!” argument from a teenage girl for a reason, both are logic and reason free justifications of infatuation.
 
I think it’s fair to say, that regardless of the success possibilities, Gmac would up the dome attendance by a mile at game 1.
Winning will increase the Dome attendance. I think almost any coach we hire will increase the attendance for the first game because it’s really hard to do worse than Autry. It’s attendance for game 2, 3, 4…. that matters more than game 1
 
Here is one thing that I want to see. Can BH lead a team to the NCAAT?
Because frankly that is what I want most of all.
JB used to say that regular season games are just preparation for the conference tournament and NCAAT.
And for most of his tenure, that is what he did. Our team isn’t storied because of seasonal win loss records. It is considered a storied program because of our NCAAT appearances, our national championship, our final fours, elite eights, and sweet sixteens.
That is what I ultimately care about. I make no apologies for that.

In BH’s first year at Arkansas State, he led them to the conference championship game where they lost by 20 to James Madison. No NCAAT.
The next year he again led them to the conference championship game where they lost to Troy by 13 points. Again, no NCAAT.
The biggest game of the year and he lost by fairly large margins both times.

Gerry, in his championship game, led his 7 scholarship player team to the conference championship win by 10 points. He is going to the NCAAT in his second season.

Now we can talk NET and KENPOM and all those fancy NCAA metrics (most of which I don’t truly understand). In this area, BH seems to trounce Gerry by an incredibly large margin.

But can he win the really important games when they mean the most.
Can he take his team to the NCAAT?
Cause I am sick of not caring about the selection show.

This is what I mean by saying Gerry is a winner, especially in the big moments.
That is why I can legitimately feel he will do at least as good a job as BH.
It is my feelings and belief that he can win anywhere.

But those are my feelings, and not analytics.
The next few years will tell the tale wherever BH and Gerry end up.
 
Here is one thing that I want to see. Can BH lead a team to the NCAAT?
Because frankly that is what I want most of all.
JB used to say that regular season games are just preparation for the conference tournament and NCAAT.
And for most of his tenure, that is what he did. Our team isn’t storied because of seasonal win loss records. It is considered a storied program because of our NCAAT appearances, our national championship, our final fours, elite eights, and sweet sixteens.
That is what I ultimately care about. I make no apologies for that.

In BH’s first year at Arkansas State, he led them to the conference championship game where they lost by 20 to James Madison. No NCAAT.
The next year he again led them to the conference championship game where they lost to Troy by 13 points. Again, no NCAAT.
The biggest game of the year and he lost by fairly large margins both times.

Gerry, in his championship game, led his 7 scholarship player team to the conference championship win by 10 points. He is going to the NCAAT in his second season.

Now we can talk NET and KENPOM and all those fancy NCAA metrics (most of which I don’t truly understand). In this area, BH seems to trounce Gerry by an incredibly large margin.

But can he win the really important games when they mean the most.
Can he take his team to the NCAAT?
Cause I am sick of not caring about the selection show.

This is what I mean by saying Gerry is a winner, especially in the big moments.
That is why I can legitimately feel he will do at least as good a job as BH.
It is my feelings and belief that he can win anywhere.

But those are my feelings, and not analytics.
The next few years will tell the tale wherever BH and Gerry end up.

Can he build a winning team in year one at SU? Because that will be the expectation. Who does he bring in from Siena that can play in the ACC? Doty is very good and maybe he can do it most nights against P4 level competition. Everyone else on that roster would be bench depth at best if you want a winning team at SU.

BH can bring one of the top portal guards ( assuming he leaves) in the country and has a few guys on that team that could contribute at this level. USF is two games away or some good fortune with other bubble teams if they lose from already being in. They finished the season on a big winning streak winning a bunch of must win games to win the league including on the road and many of those games they won big via dominating.

To me on paper BH has an edge in his overall resume and that’s not debatable. The money situation as well as who comes with you who knows your system matters too. Look at how Kelsey at the Ville came over bringing key players. It’s part of the equation to getting immediate results and a huge question mark I have with Gerry. If Gerry can bring more money for everything staff to players then that has to be a factor as well but right now is a big unknown.
 
Here is one thing that I want to see. Can BH lead a team to the NCAAT?
Because frankly that is what I want most of all.
JB used to say that regular season games are just preparation for the conference tournament and NCAAT.
And for most of his tenure, that is what he did. Our team isn’t storied because of seasonal win loss records. It is considered a storied program because of our NCAAT appearances, our national championship, our final fours, elite eights, and sweet sixteens.
That is what I ultimately care about. I make no apologies for that.

In BH’s first year at Arkansas State, he led them to the conference championship game where they lost by 20 to James Madison. No NCAAT.
The next year he again led them to the conference championship game where they lost to Troy by 13 points. Again, no NCAAT.
The biggest game of the year and he lost by fairly large margins both times.

Gerry, in his championship game, led his 7 scholarship player team to the conference championship win by 10 points. He is going to the NCAAT in his second season.

Now we can talk NET and KENPOM and all those fancy NCAA metrics (most of which I don’t truly understand). In this area, BH seems to trounce Gerry by an incredibly large margin.

But can he win the really important games when they mean the most.
Can he take his team to the NCAAT?
Cause I am sick of not caring about the selection show.

This is what I mean by saying Gerry is a winner, especially in the big moments.
That is why I can legitimately feel he will do at least as good a job as BH.
It is my feelings and belief that he can win anywhere.

But those are my feelings, and not analytics.
The next few years will tell the tale wherever BH and Gerry end up.
Appreciate those are your feelings on this matter…….for the 1000th time.
IMG_0623.gif
 
Here is one thing that I want to see. Can BH lead a team to the NCAAT?
Because frankly that is what I want most of all.
JB used to say that regular season games are just preparation for the conference tournament and NCAAT.
And for most of his tenure, that is what he did. Our team isn’t storied because of seasonal win loss records. It is considered a storied program because of our NCAAT appearances, our national championship, our final fours, elite eights, and sweet sixteens.
That is what I ultimately care about. I make no apologies for that.

In BH’s first year at Arkansas State, he led them to the conference championship game where they lost by 20 to James Madison. No NCAAT.
The next year he again led them to the conference championship game where they lost to Troy by 13 points. Again, no NCAAT.
The biggest game of the year and he lost by fairly large margins both times.

Gerry, in his championship game, led his 7 scholarship player team to the conference championship win by 10 points. He is going to the NCAAT in his second season.

Now we can talk NET and KENPOM and all those fancy NCAA metrics (most of which I don’t truly understand). In this area, BH seems to trounce Gerry by an incredibly large margin.

But can he win the really important games when they mean the most.
Can he take his team to the NCAAT?
Cause I am sick of not caring about the selection show.

This is what I mean by saying Gerry is a winner, especially in the big moments.
That is why I can legitimately feel he will do at least as good a job as BH.
It is my feelings and belief that he can win anywhere.

But those are my feelings, and not analytics.
The next few years will tell the tale wherever BH and Gerry end up.

Basically your argument comes down to one game then - this year’s MAAC championship. Basing a decision on one game is not a great strategy.

The Cowboys beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX, and cornerback Larry Brown was the MVP. Based on that one game, the Raiders signed Brown to a huge free agent contract. That press conference sounded a lot like what I would anticipate McNamara’s would sound like - he’s a winner, he comes through in big games, yadda yadda yadda. The problem is that one game for Brown was a career outlier - he was a decent but not great CB who had a great game. What we don’t know right now is if that championship was an outlier for McNamara and he’s a decent but not great coach, or if it’s the first of many in a great career.

He might be a great coach. I want more than one data point to decide that on, because it’s a big, big risk to use one data point. The guys pushing for McNamara are too emotionally invested and are putting way too much stock in one data point. The “throw out the Kenpom and Net, just look at the championship” position is really “let’s throw out all the other data and focus solely on the one data point I like!”
 
To be honest, Gerry should stay at Siena. He’s going to have a good team next year, likely another tournament team. It’s a low stress environment that may open up a better job. I think when JB left, Syracuse was still a top 10 job in the country but clearly trending the wrong way.

After these last 3 years with all the changes with NIL, I’m not sure Gerry couldn’t land somewhere that’s a bit more stable and allow him to develop as a coach without having to be the “savior.”

Maybe I’ve just been beaten down by Cuse basketball for the last decade, but I think we’re overrating how good of a job this is currently. It can certainly return to the pinnacle of CBB, but this next hire is make or break. We’re teetering on the ladder of permanent irrelevance after the last 5 years. I’d hate to see Gerry’s career nose dive if he can’t turn this ship around.

BH is the right hire at this moment. If he can get us back to the top 25 for a few years and wants to move on, then you bring in Gerry if he’s still trending towards a legit P4 coach. He is my favorite Cuse player of all time and I would love to have him, just not at this very moment in our history.
Common sense is something a lot of people on this subject seem to lack. We already had one Alum destroy his career here, we don't need another to do it.
 
As I said, these are my feelings.
I also think Doty could be pretty damn successful.
And if nothing else would bring true leadership in the locker room and on the court
Something we have been sorely missing for years.
As for NIL, he could obviously bring AW but SU will not allow it.
No doubt the biggest black mark against him and why I would frankly fall over in shock if they did hire him this year.

Pretty sure it will be BH unless TPTB nickel and dime him at the last minute.
 
As I said, these are my feelings.
I also think Doty could be pretty damn successful.
And if nothing else would bring true leadership in the locker room and on the court
Something we have been sorely missing for years.
As for NIL, he could obviously bring AW but SU will not allow it.
No doubt the biggest black mark against him and why I would frankly fall over in shock if they did hire him this year.

Pretty sure it will be BH unless TPTB nickel and dime him at the last minute.
Wake me up when Gerry designs an offensive style that averages more than 70ppg. Same thing with Shaheen Holloway. I’m done with the half court slugfests that rely on star players making a Herculean effort to score.
 

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