It's Official: It’s GMac

[pearl31]

Oh man. Dismissing Melo’s “inner drive” is ridiculous. There’s loads of people with innate athleticism and basketball talent. How many make the Hall of Fame? Incredibly few. It’s almost impossible to do. Yet Melo did.

You think the #13 scorer of all time didn’t have insane “inner drive”? What are we doing here?

People loved Gerry as a player because he was a small, great shooting white guy. That’s perfectly fine. Like you said, he looked like your neighbor and we relate to his background.

It’s the same reason Celtics fan love Payton Pritchard. But no one is claiming Pritchard has more “inner drive” than Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown. My goodness.

yep

 

[PeteCalvin]

Who doesn't? Again outside of the echo chamber of this online community I would bet people revere Melo just as much as GMAC. I will conceded that people probably find it much easier to relate to GMAC because Melo looks and moves like a super star athlete and has all the trappings of one. GMAC looks like a guy you would see at the pier fishing or hanging out shooting hoops at the local Y... So that probably explains why it seems like GMAC is more revered. The open question is going to be what an 16 year old kid and his family will relate to... I suspect parents will love GMAC, but will the kids?

What's funny is that GMAC is much more of a "killer" than Melo was... I think there is a an inner drive and will to win and succeed in GMAC that goes beyond way beyond what the normal elite athlete has. The true all time great coaches all have this characteristic... they don't accept anything less than 100% adherence to their directions and they hold people accountable if that's not there. This is why I am, and I'm sure a LOT of people are so excited about GMAC... I can't imagine him sitting around eeking out .500 seasons. I've said this earlier, but you see it when he is coaching when he is literally playing every play on the sidelines along with his players. I think with people like that burnout is a real risk as I don't know how a coach can maintain that level of intensity game after game... season after season.

When I look at GMAC I see a Pep Guardiola... reserved dudes, who were amazing and great players in their own right who maxed out their talents at a very elite level, but never true super stars. They are really nice guys who are quiet killers underneath the hood. If GMAC is 50% of the tactician and leader that Pep is we are in for an amazing run of success... that's the upside that I see. As someone said above... Ewing/Autry is the floor.

There is reverence for Melo and all of our greats. Melo was only in orange for one season and has as much fan devotion as guys who played 4 years. The love for Gerry does not diminish how SU fans see Melo. I love Melo! He won a championship for us. Took us to the pinnacle. Gerry was also a huge part of that championship. I think Gerry is more ingrained in our psyches because he was a scrappy workhorse player we relied on for four years and had a lot of games and buzzer beaters worthy of legendary status. Remember, we wouldn’t have won 10 freakin games without him.

 

[orangepassion]

Some people might also have more of a connection to G-Mac than Melo because was here 4 years vs Melo's 1 year.

 

[Red Holzman]

I might be on repeat but I feel more strongly that because of how people view the program and the lack of trust around what someone could raise money wise outside of Gerry or shop- BH or Schertz or nearly any outside option would ultimately fail even if they saw some success early on. I feel much more confident in that than I do of GMac succeeding. I really don’t know if he will or not but he will get the money that gives him a better chance at it especially if he meets expectations in year 1 than the other options.

That is a flaw or circumstance of a program that while Dave Bing ( and of course Pearl set things on fire for us ) put us on the modern map, truly revolves around 40 years of JB. He made it what it was as did the many players and administrators around him that still love and idolize him. That means that trusting someone who has deep roots into the days things worked and raising money around them in the days where money is king- is a much much easier task and profitable outcome than bringing in a name that only a small subset of SU fans and supporters really know. They would know the big coaching names who are out of the game or not worth the crazy salary they would demand but BH, JS , PMJ etc etc are just coaches we know.

I said it back when he decided to step away that while it would hurt because of conference affiliation, Calhoun leaving when he did gave UConn a leg up on finding their groove in the next generation and said the same about UNC and Duke. Now UNC did what they did and it’s been mixed results - a far cry from how bad we have had it and Duke has thrived. Scheyer was the very popular , well spoken firebrand who Duke family knows well as a super recruiter and basketball mind and flooding in the money was easy. They also timed things and managed it better.

It’s easy to place blame on JB staying too long and that being on JB and the school because that’s true. Handing the reigns to Hop back then probably doesn’t go much better than Autry lets be real , but then we would have been years ahead like UConn was in re establishing finding the right leader.

So back to what I’m getting at- paying for these other up and coming coaches is the sexy pick for those of us including myself to say a new era with fresh blood is bringing us to prosperity and the bad days are long gone.. it’s fools gold. You see the money and energy flying in behind Gerry. He’s not the logical decision for a program buried in the past that made it but he’s our best shot to survive and progress in a world where more and more big programs leak out having major money issues. Gerry brings in the grass roots support and money and the past player buy in no one else can and if he wins there will likely be sustained support for a while behind him.

If he doesn’t - then the reality that our hoops program will never reach the same heights is upon us and those of us already adjusted to a version of that will fall back into that new routine.

Absolutely correct.
To show support for GMac, donated to Men's Basketball Head Coach's Fund yesterday.
No other hire would have inspired that first-time ever donation.
Saved hundreds not buying tix the past several years, so redirected some to get GMac jump-started.
Had seasons way back, then packages, then went to a few select games, and now haven't been to a game in several years along with losing interest in following the team.
Yes, I got weary of the direction of SU Basketball.
Now, I'm excited and ready to ride with GMac.
You can criticize fans like me as dreamers, lacking the insight and perspective of super fans here.
But for a full house to rock the Dome again, fans like me are needed back.
SU made the right read on the immediate support ($) with this hire.
In GMac I Trust -he's a winner that I believe in. If GMac's ship sinks, I will go down with it.

 

[Bill Orange]

 

[llandz]

For those of us who don't normally listen, what time would this be?

 

[Bill Orange]

For those of us who don't normally listen, what time would this be?

12-1 Eastern.

 

[SUFan44]

I wish it could of been a 3 year deal and we can get out of it at 2 years if it isn’t going good.

If Red got 3, Gerry is going to get at least 3.

 

[Sherman20]

Now that we are a few days into it, one can see why Cuse went with GMAC

I’m from Cuse and an alum. My townie friends are thrilled. My “fair weather” college friends are fired up. The buzz is there. It’s mostly the diehards (this board) who were upset on the BH, TJ and Schertz “misses.” The casual fan doesn’t even know these people

Personally I would have preferred the right outsider, but understand the pressure to go with GMAC. Now that is has happened the reaction is palpable

However, it’s short term thinking. If we go 13-18 next year the shine will wear off very quickly. I hope Gerry succeeds because we need to keep this initial momentum going. Really rooting for him and let’s see what happens

You don’t hire a head coach to please casual townies or fair weather fans. All those folks would come back and get excited once we start winning, and you’re more likely to do that with a proven coach. You don’t worry about winning the press conference. That’s fooloshness. We’ll see if Gmac is up to the task before him.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

2,200 donors, over $300k yesterday per Steve Infante's wife Kim.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Staff will be coming together in the next few days (need to go through some HR stuff).

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[LpoolNative]

Yes. Very smart marketing strategy to introduce him today and push out donations for men's basketball. But also Fran was on Facebook pushing for football donations. I also got emails or saw asks from Falk, IVMF, athletics in general from the new AD. Funny nothing from Newhouse or other places I have donated to in the past. I did donate to Falk this year for a program they did in AZ, and I am friends with April who is now their engagement person, and probably many of you know April from her athletic days. I also gave to IVMF for a program I attended in Syracuse in September while visiting. I always donate when I attend an event with speakers.

I think Blair’s done a fantastic job so far.

His fundraising chops are already coming to fruition.

 

[richmondcuse03]

there was no chance his kids were saying no to moving back home lol he knew that answer

 

[FloridaCuse]

For those of us who don't normally listen, what time would this be?

It'll be availabale on YouTube later.

 

[llandz]

It'll be availabale on YouTube later.

I watched it live. Thanks.

 

[LpoolNative]

 

[Irishsecra1]

Unfortunately, I am not able to listen.
Anything said about Doty or some other potential Siena transfers like Folefac or Moesch?

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

The claim that GMAC is more of a killer than Melo is mythology.

Melo achieved things at levels of basketball few do, and at levels of basketball Gerry wasn't even close to being good enough at to compete in. He accomplished those things with a lesser drive and will to win than Gerry exhibited?

Again I'm glad so many are excited, but I fear the reasons for excitement are so grounded in irrationality that 1) GMAC is not possibly going to be able to meet expectations and 2) when he doesn't then cognitive dissonance will be so great people will struggle to face it.

For one example, at no point in my lifetime except for this one and the fiction around it would Syracuse fans be excited about and think it's a good roster building strategy to add multiple guys from Siena's roster and recruiting. And yet here we are.

Many basketball fans can see themselves in Gerry, small(ish), scrappy. That could have been us. No one thinks they could have been Melo. Melo was such a superior athlete that it was easy at the college level. It looked like he didn't have to work as hard as Gerry. He did, it just didn't look like it. Gerry appeared to play harder, because he wasn't physically superior to many folks he played against.

 

[Franz69]

 

[Franz69]

 

[llandz]

Welp. I just confirmed that a year ago I gave my "Overrated" shirt to a donation place. If either AZOrange or CuseCactus see someone wearing it on a street corner, can you tell them I want it back and I will swap out another shirt for them? lol.

Edit. They should make and sell them again for NIL funds.

 

[SaveSUHoops]

Edit. They should make and sell them again for NIL funds.

100%, would be a huge miss if the AD didn't capitalize on the hype and bring back those shirts. I believe Manny's was selling official G-Mac jerseys a few years ago. Can't find them online anywhere now, and kicking myself for not buying one back then.

 

[brandokc]

Funny enough I found mine in the basement a couple of weeks ago and washed it. Excited to rock it again.