Gerry McNamara needs to be the next coach

[Irishsecra1]

This. x100.

One of the reasons why there was no succession plan as far as JB was concerned.
He did not want to leave so had no time to set up Gerry as his successor.
If anything advocating for Gerry after he was kicked out, probably was a huge black mark against Gerry.
Probably continues to be a black mark against Gerry.

 

[Brooky03]

Because his apathy toward doing his job is why the team when down the drain.
He reeked of entitlement his last 10 years, honestly.

The last 10 is a stretch. His entitlement (really, arrogance) was always there but just became a problem when he stopped winning. His unwillingness to recruit was very baffling and annoying. He still had the fire on the court though, until the last few years.

 

[Acesn8s]

Gerry McNamara was not a good player for Syracuse he was a great one, and I would hate for him in 3 years to be tarnished because he failed at this job. I do not think his two years at Siena are enough to take on a task of this magnitude. I was in the camp and maybe a camp of one that I want a coach who is a bit older, who has rebuilt programs over time, and has success at those programs. I'm not saying him but somebody like Greg McDermott, he almost certainly will be leaving Creighton at end of this year, he might love a new scene like Syracuse, or again maybe somebody like that with that pedigree . There are no sure things but a failed hire here we may never come back to relevance. There are 18 teams in this conference now if you go 6 or 7 years with no tourney appearances you may never crawl out of it.

 

[bballbeadle]

Well, since I started this thread, I guess I should put in my two cents. I am good with either Gerry or Hodgkin. They both bring different strengths. I am not of the opinion that Gerry is fruit from the poisoned tree. That is not his fault. Duke took a chance on Scheyer and Scheyer has been a great coach. He will be at Duke for life. Many Duke fans were rather sick of K by the end, believe it or not. But legacy is important to Duke. If Gerry is successful, he will be here for life.

Hodgkin would be a great hire, but there are no guarantees with him, either. Gerry and Hodgkin are around the same age. Someone made the point that Hodgkin seems to run a more dynamic offense. That is appealing but perhaps Hodgkin has the players to do that. Gerry works with what he has.

The money and NIL make it all the more complicated, and I have no wisdom or insight about that except that I HATE it. Does Gerry even want this job? I am sure he understands the pressure he would be under.

There are no guarantees in life.

 

[nyucuse]

Well they couldnt hire GMAC now because he made the NCAAT.
USF could very well flame out in their conference tournament and not even make it making BH available sooner.

I will say this.

BH will not last long here. If he is successful, he will leave for the next higher tier program with a lot of money. Maybe, maybe he stays 2 to 3 years and then moves on. He feels no loyalty to this program.
He will be our Doug Marrone.

They could go after Gerry again at that point. But he will have most likely moved on to a rival program somewhere in the north east most likely.

SU basketball is not football. You greatly underestimate the standing of this basketball program on the national stage. Sure it’s been a few down years but it is still a top tier program with only a very small handful of programs decidedly better.

 

[721Comstock]

Well, since I started this thread, I guess I should put in my two cents. I am good with either Gerry or Hodgkin. They both bring different strengths. I am not of the opinion that Gerry is fruit from the poisoned tree. That is not his fault. Duke took a chance on Scheyer and Scheyer has been a great coach. He will be at Duke for life. Many Duke fans were rather sick of K by the end, believe it or not. But legacy is important to Duke. If Gerry is successful, he will be here for life.

Hodgkin would be a great hire, but there are no guarantees with him, either. Gerry and Hodgkin are around the same age. Someone made the point that Hodgkin seems to run a more dynamic offense. That is appealing but perhaps Hodgkin has the players to do that. Gerry works with what he has.

The money and NIL make it all the more complicated, and I have no wisdom or insight about that except that I HATE it. Does Gerry even want this job? I am sure he understands the pressure he would be under.

There are no guarantees in life.

You are comparing apples and former Oranges.

GMac was a big part of the slide into obscurity before Red got the gig.

And while he’s having a nice season at Siena, they are a low low low mid major.
Doty is pretty much the team.

BH had success as an assistant w Oates at UB and Bama, and then at 2 different programs now as HC.

And USF is substantially further up the food chain than Siena.

BH has a proven system on O, with metrics amongst the very best across all of D1, P4’s included.
And solid D also.

GMac’s metrics are - meh.

They are in no way comparable.

Once again, with feeling:
If the Siena HC was named Gerry Smith, and had never been involved w Cuse in any manner -
no sane fan would be considering him for the HC gig.
None.

He’s getting ZERO buzz for ANY other P4 opening.

 

[xc84]

I think Gerry ihas done the right things and has done a great job at Siena. Given the failure of Autry and to some extent , Hopkins, there will be a bias against hiring another former player. Not good timing for GMac but he will get his big-program opportunity at some point.

 

[IthacaMatt]

The last 10 is a stretch. His entitlement (really, arrogance) was always there but just became a problem when he stopped winning. His unwillingness to recruit was very baffling and annoying. He still had the fire on the court though, until the last few years.

When was Mike supposed to take over? I'm pretty sure it was after the 2016 season, and when Boeheim let it be known that he didn't want to leave, that's when Mike checked out. He was here that one more season but didn't sign any recruits. He saved them for his next job.

So, yeah, that's 10 years since Boeheim reneged on his agreement with Syverud after his 2nd probation.

 

[Cusefan95]

SU basketball is not football. You greatly underestimate the standing of this basketball program on the national stage. Sure it’s been a few down years but it is still a top tier program with only a very small handful of programs decidedly better.

Syracuse hasn’t had a year with single digit losses since 2014. Kids do not care about history, so fans overrate where Syracuse stands. Where history matters is when there are two good years in a row - there’s instant credibility. Houston has benefited from that recently.

But if a coach left Syracuse for an SEC school like Auburn with little history, but a bigger NIL and higher salary - I don’t think anyone outside of Syracuse fandom would be shocked.

 

[xc84]

You are comparing apples and former Oranges.

GMac was a big part of the slide into obscurity before Red got the gig.

And while he’s having a nice season at Siena, they are a low low low mid major.
Doty is pretty much the team.

BH had success as an assistant w Oates at UB and Bama, and then at 2 different programs now as HC.

And USF is substantially further up the food chain than Siena.

BH has a proven system on O, with metrics amongst the very best across all of D1, P4’s included.
And solid D also.

GMac’s metrics are - meh.

They are in no way comparable.

Once again, with feeling:
If the Siena HC was named Gerry Smith, and had never been involved w Cuse in any manner -
no sane fan would be considering him for the HC gig.
None.

He’s getting ZERO buzz for ANY other P4 opening.

Sure, but don’t discount that Gerry inherited a 4 win program and has 23 wins and an NCAA berth. It is not trivial.

 

[xc84]

Syracuse hasn’t had a year with single digit losses since 2014. Kids do not care about history, so fans overrate where Syracuse stands. Where history matters is when there are two good years in a row - there’s instant credibility. Houston has benefited from that recently.

But if a coach left Syracuse for an SEC school like Auburn with little history, but a bigger NIL and higher salary - I don’t think anyone outside is Syracuse fandom would be shocked.

Final 4 in 2016. Sweet 16 in 2018 and 2021. I don’t care much they didn’t have single digit losses those years.

 

[CuseCPT]

No he does not.

 

[dollarbill44]

GROB didn’t make me wish for Coach P back. A bad hire doesn’t make a previous bad hire magically better. About the only thing that could make me wish for Red is if the next coach is caught driving high on crack with a dead hooker in the trunk of his car, because I would miss that Red is a decent human being who didn’t do THAT. Nothing that happens on the court will make me miss the Red dumpster fire years.

This post is absurd. You can't fault someone for transporting the dead hooker in the trunk. Be reasonable.

 

[dollarbill44]

Final 4 in 2016. Sweet 16 in 2018 and 2021. I don’t care much they didn’t have single digit losses those years.

But, we probably should. W-L percentage is a good indicator of a strong program. You increase your odds of a deep run with better seeding. You get a better seed by winning more games in the regular season.
Plus, the program gets better media exposure when the team is ranked throughout the season vs being a perennial bubble team.

 

[Irishsecra1]

Honestly, if you are strictly looking at Metrics, then you are right, Gerry should not even be considered.
And if he was Joe Blow at Siena, we probably wouldn't consider him or even talk about him on this board.

But he is not Joe Blow, he is Gerry McNamara.
Won our only national championship with an epic 3 point barrage as a freshman.
Willed his 9 seed team to a historic Big East Championship when literally all hope was lost to get to the NCAAT.
Flat out won as a player, even when he had to carry SU on his back.

Grad manager for 2 years, Assistant coach for 13 years at SU.
In those years, SU went to 9 NCAAT and one NIT. Made 2 final fours, 1 elite eight, 3 sweet sixteens.
Last trip was 20-21 and a sweet sixteen.
So, though the team definitely went down the last 3 years, he was not an assistant at a bottom tier losing program.
So, you could say, for the most part, his teams won when he was an assistant until JBs coaching issues dragged them down.

Then becomes head coach at Siena. Frankly no one thought he would do much there, at least initially.
Team was 4-28 the year he showed up.
He built the team from scratch - everything had to be redone.
Promised at his introductory news conference that he was there to win.
That all he had done his whole life was geared toward winning, every day in the gym he was focused on what could he do to win. That is what he said.

2 years later his team is 23-11 and won their tournament and a ticket to the NCAAT for the first time in 16 years. He promised he would win and he kept that promise.
So, you can say that he flat out won as a head coach.

Bottom line is he has been a winner his whole life.
He has never shirked from a challenge, has never failed to achieve what he set out to do.
That is why so many, including myself, are advocating for GMAC.

I dont blame him for Jims slide in the later years. Seriously, what was he supposed to do to fix it.
He wasnt in control of the program. He could help as best he could but he could not fix what ailed us.

All I know is that once he was in control he brought Siena back from the scrap heap.
Brought in players, set up a winning culture and a defensive identity as a bunch of scrappers who wont leave you alone.
They will be dancing next week, we are still waiting and waiting.

 

[Cappy3]

Sure, but don’t discount that Gerry inherited a 4 win program and has 23 wins and an NCAA berth. It is not trivial.

Well, it’s easier to turn around a program in a dog-crap league like the MAAC. I live in the Albany area, I’ve seen a number of Siena games. And I’m vastly unimpressed with the general level of teams in that league. BC would probably go unbeaten in the MAAC. The fact is, as has been noted, if the coach was anyone other than a beloved alum, no one here would be taking him seriously.

 

[xc84]

Well, it’s easier to turn around a program in a dog-crap league like the MAAC. I live in the Albany area, I’ve seen a number of Siena games. And I’m vastly unimpressed with the general level of teams in that league. BC would probably go unbeaten in the MAAC. The fact is, as has been noted, if the coach was anyone other than a beloved alum, no one here would be taking him seriously.

It is all relative. I don’t think it is any easier to turn around a MAAC team than in other leagues. Recruiting is still hard and coaching still needs to be good. NIL funding is low in the MAAC.

He took a 4 win team to 23 wins. Another year of that and he will get looks. Teams will take him seriously. Sure, BC coach might win the MAAC but not necessarily with Siena’s players.

 

[dasher]

after siena is knocked out of the ncaat, gmac will be announced as the new bball hc by the new ad, jim boeheim.

You know, when things are told to you with the condition that you do not repeat them, you should honor that pledge.

 

[xc84]

But, we probably should. W-L percentage is a good indicator of a strong program. You increase your odds of a deep run with better seeding. You get a better seed by winning more games in the regular season.
Plus, the program gets better media exposure when the team is ranked throughout the season vs being a perennial bubble team.

Obviously less losses is better but the team didn’t fall off the cliff after their last single-digit loss season. They got into a Final Four. In the Final Four, your record is irrelevant.

 

[baggerbob]

It is all relative. I don’t think it is any easier to turn around a MAAC team than in other leagues. Recruiting is still hard and coaching still needs to be good. NIL funding is low in the MAAC.

He took a 4 win team to 23 wins. Another year of that and he will get looks. Teams will take him seriously. Sure, BC coach might win the MAAC but not necessarily with Siena’s players.

Hiring Gerry at this time would just be another mistake. Let him coach a few more years, and if the job opens up again , and he is doing well then hire him.
If you foul this up now we will never get the program back.

 

[xc84]

Hiring Gerry at this time would just be another mistake. Let him coach a few more years, and if the job opens up again , and he is doing well then hire him.
If you foul this up now we will never get the program back.

He is not getting the SU job but he has still done a great job with Siena.

 

[Cuseregular]

Sure, but don’t discount that Gerry inherited a 4 win program and has 23 wins and an NCAA berth. It is not trivial.

Yep and woo Friggin hoo!

Client Challenge

 

[RF2044]

Quick thought experiment for the pro-GMac crowd. I've read several posts in this thread suggesting that Hodgson is unproven, questioning his coaching acumen, and / or suggesting that what GMac is doing at Siena is on par with what Hodgson is accomplishing at USF.

Here is a summary from about two weeks ago about how USF rates nationally on a bunch of advanced statistics:

• Fast pace aggressive system that can compete with some of the best. They overwhelm opponents, and attack the rim at every chance.
• 20th in tempo 38.4%
• adj off reb% (9th)
• 17.7 2CP/g (1st)
• 28.3 FTA/g (1st)
• 8.4 steals/g (29th)
• 18.7 pts off TOV/g (8th)
• 5th in 2PA distance

Please note that those are national ratings. So, in adjusted offensive rebounding [just picking one from the list above], USF is 9th NATIONALLY, out of the 361 D1 programs. USF is #1 out of 361 men's college basketball in free throws attempted per game, etc.

Also please note that Hodgson is accomplishing this in his first year at that school, with a roster he had to scramble to cobble together last offseason.

How does Siena rate on these same indicators? Would make for an interesting comparison, and might provide some empirical data to compare the two coaches.

Here are a couple more:

NET ranking:

• USF 48
• Siena 182

KenPom rating:

• USF 52
• Siena 190

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Yep and woo Friggin hoo!

Client Challenge

This board was the source for that article.

 

[rrlbees]

jb just said on orangenation that gmac has heard from bc and georgia tech.