Gerry McNamara needs to be the next coach

[Cusefan95]

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.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

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

 

[Irishsecra1]

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.

 

[Orangezoo]

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.

 

[Cusefan69]

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.

 

[Cusefan95]

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!”

 

[baggerbob]

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.

 

[Irishsecra1]

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.

 

[Cusefan0307]

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.

 

[Newhouser]

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.

JB really only started saying that at the end of his career when more often than not his post-season was better than his regular season. In the early years when tournament success didn't match expectations based off regular season success, he supported the year long picture.

 

[elimunelson]

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

If saddam Hussein won 24 games the dome would be full. Any coach hired has to win and has pressure.

 

[ThyCookie]

I read that Gmac had been contacted by Georgia Tech and Boston College in this article:

Syracuse Legend Gerry McNamara Breaks Silence on Orange’s HC Opening Amid Impressive Stint Coaching Siena

Former Sycause star Gerry McNamara discusses becoming the next head coach of his alma mater amid a successful stint at Siena.

www.profootballnetwork.com

Dunno if that is true unless the writer has some great contacts.
Anyone have any insight on this?

Edit: JB said it in an interview. I missed that part because of the shell shock

 

[Irishsecra1]

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.

well when you lose 5 scholarship players, including 3 starters and a sixth man, you make do with what you have. I have no idea frankly what kind of offense he wanted to run initially
That is one reason I want him to return to Siena.
I want him to run the offense he wanted with all the players he recruited.

 

[Cusefan0307]

well when you lose 5 scholarship players, including 3 starters and a sixth man, you make do with what you have. I have no idea frankly what kind of offense he wanted to run initially
That is one reason I want him to return to Siena.
I want him to run the offense he wanted with all the players he recruited.

Exactly. He has to prove it. Sick of watching garbage shooting. He hasn't proved it yet.

 

[Cappy3]

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!”

Not to mention the championship game was Q4, like 20 more of Siena’s wins. He was 2-7 in Q1,2, and 3 games.

 

[Orangezoo]

Exactly. He has to prove it. Sick of watching garbage shooting. He hasn't proved it yet.

Early on in the year, before more injuries came down the pike, they were shooting even worse than they were with a reduced roster.

Ducharme’s absence hurt but he was only 32 pct from 3 in 24-25.

So it’s fair to say that maybe the injuries prevented that offense from ever having a chance to be showcased but there still was some time with which they had most of their guys and there wasn’t anything impressive about their offensive sets or identity in those early games. They simply played hard and had to lean on their top 3 guys to do the heavy lifting.

A couple other nuggets includes the fact that a 39 pct shooter really struggled this year in Coyle despite an improved team around him. There was some struggles getting him good looks and just some confidence issues too.

Lastly while Kevair Kennedy is a really talented freshman for the MAAC level he’s a level below Doty right now. Doty was the best player in that conference and showed as much all year. He’s in the mold of a Dalton Knecht ( not there or necessarily likely to reach that level) and simply is better than anyone else in the conference or at peer level schools and the impact of that was easy to see.

 

[Irishsecra1]

Absolutely. It is one data point.
Can the head coach take his team to the NCAAT?
Can he win the most important game of his league year to get there?

BH whiffed badly on his 2 attempts in the Sun Belt tournament.
The jury is out on if he can get USF there this year in the American.

In the final analysis, analytics don’t really matter if you can’t even get your team in the NCAAT. No fan gives a damn at the end of the year about analytics.
All they care about is how did they do in their conference tournament, did they make the NCAAT, how far did they get in the NCAAT?

Listen, I hope BH is everything most of you believe because he will most likely be our next head coach. I think the chance of Gerry being named our next head coach is like me winning 10 million in the lottery,

 

[Irishsecra1]

Early on in the year, before more injuries came down the pike, they were shooting even worse than they were with a reduced roster.

Ducharme’s absence hurt but he was only 32 pct from 3 in 24-25.

So it’s fair to say that maybe the injuries prevented that offense from ever having a chance to be showcased but there still was some time with which they had most of their guys and there wasn’t anything impressive about their offensive sets or identity in those early games. They simply played hard and had to lean on their top 3 guys to do the heavy lifting.

A couple other nuggets includes the fact that a 39 pct shooter really struggled this year in Coyle despite an improved team around him. There was some struggles getting him good looks and just some confidence issues too.

Lastly while Kevair Kennedy is a really talented freshman for the MAAC level he’s a level below Doty right now. Doty was the best player in that conference and showed as much all year. He’s in the mold of a Dalton Knecht ( not there or necessarily likely to reach that level) and simply is better than anyone else in the conference or at peer level schools and the impact of that was easy to see.

I agree on Kennedy but he did win MAAC player of the year.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

If saddam Hussein won 24 games the dome would be full. Any coach hired has to win and has pressure.

If he’s coaching after coming back from the dead, I’m there even if they lose every game!

 

[HakAttack]

Besides benefitting greatly from Weitsman’s dollars, as he took his NIL money to Siena once SU gave him the boot, GMac isn’t a nice human.

I saw him at Gannon’s with my family and wanted to take a photo with him and my kids, he ignored us and just ordered his banana split.

 

[HakAttack]

But in all seriousness, I want nothing to do with GMac as our next coach. The sooner we get away from the Boeheim tree, the better.

 

[Orangezoo]

I agree on Kennedy but he did win MAAC player of the year.

He did - but his game can be erratic and undisciplined where as Doty is both as talented and more well rounded right now. Ceiling wise Kennedy probably could end up at any P4 level next year or the following so he jumps Doty at that point just not yet.

 

[IthacaMatt]

It’s interesting that you want to use history to defend why Iona is better than Siena, but ignore history related to Penn State. And BC is irrelevant because they are in a big city and get no media attention - but Iona is relevant because they are in NYC and that translates to media attention for some unexplained reason.

Also interesting I specifically said the issue at Penn State ISN’T money - and your rebuttal is “but they have money!”

Most of your schools made sense as future stops. Those two are really weird, and your logic makes no sense for them.

Penn State's lack of historical success can be compared to some of the SEC schools like Alabama and LSU who had disinterested fan bases, but tons of money. Those fans are engaged and interested now, because winning does that.

Iona being in metro NYC is important for the recruits that are nearby, not the press, although the press is more than you would get in Albany.

 

[Brooky03]

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.

This doesn’t speak to new season tickets holders, though. Also, existing season ticket holders are kinda notorious for throwing their tantrums and then re-upping anyway. I wouldn’t take their threats too seriously, personally.

 

[MSOrange]

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!”

I knew we should have canned JB and hired the Richmond coach in 1991