Siena Basketball: GMAC / Blackwell / AO

[rrlbees]

Can someone explain to me the logic of wanting to hire GMac because Siena is 2nd place in the MAAC. Why wouldn't you want to hire the coach of the 1st place team in the MAAC?

i dont think "anyone" would. but 2 years ago they won 4 games. last year in gmacs 1st year they won 14. this year they have 16 with at least 10 games to go. if only 1st place coaches got hired a lot would be out of work.

 

[Cusefan78]

Yes, I agree. Although not quite as dour as JB. I think Gerry knows how to push the right buttons of his players. I didn't watch their game today as I was watching the SU lacrosse game. Did you watch? If so how did they look? I saw the final score. I'll post the Siena BB tweets.

I really think red has tried to distance himself from jb almost to his detriment.

 

[nocohalo]

i dont think "anyone" would. but 2 years ago they won 4 games. last year in gmacs 1st year they won 14. this year they have 16 with at least 10 games to go. if only 1st place coaches got hired a lot would be out of work.

The 1st place team has been a division 1 program for only 6 years, with the first 4 being in the NEC. Siena has a long history of basketball. On the merits the Merrimack coach should be looked at way before Gerry.

 

[Cheriehoop]

i dont think "anyone" would. but 2 years ago they won 4 games. last year in gmacs 1st year they won 14. this year they have 16 with at least 10 games to go. if only 1st place coaches got hired a lot would be out of work.

Might be a moot point for those worried needlessly that he might be targeted here. He might get a high D1 job offer before he would at SU. Many Siena coaches made the big jumps before him. Louie Orr went to Seton Hall, Mike Deane went to Marquette, Paul Hewitt went to Georgia Tech, and Fran McCaffrey went to Iowa. They have a nice history.

 

[rrlbees]

The 1st place team has been a division 1 program for only 6 years, with the first 4 being in the NEC. Siena has a long history of basketball. On the merits the Merrimack coach should be looked at way before Gerry.

maybe he is. nobody talks about him here cause this isn't the Merrimack board. i dont know what sienas history has to do with anything. fact is they won 4 games 2 years ago.

 

[orange79]

maybe he is. nobody talks about him here cause this isn't the Merrimack board. i dont know what sienas history have to do with anything. fact is they won 4 games 2 years ago.

Yeah. It's not that hard to understand.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Siena and Merrimack play again in a couple weeks. Siena is playing much better than they were the first game. I don’t want Gerry as HC, but he’s completely turned that program around in very short amount of time. Meanwhile former board favorite Greg Paulus has Niagara at 5-17.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Siena and Merrimack play again in a couple weeks. Siena is playing much better than they were the first game. I don’t want Gerry as HC, but he’s completely turned that program around in very short amount of time. Meanwhile former board favorite Greg Paulus has Niagara at 5-17.

Yes, Greg has to be in some trouble there. He’s 83-115 in his 7 seasons so far and has never finished higher than 5th in their conference, I doubt Niagara has much NIL money either.

 

[Irishsecra1]

Well I think that anyone who goes from 4 games won in the prior year to 14 games won in the first year and then is at 15 wins at this point in the season, deserves major props.

Even if they pull off making it to the NCAA T this year, I still dont want him as head coach next.
Frankly, I think the SU fan expectations would put way too much pressure on a coach with only 2 years head coaching experience. I don't care who they hire - fans are going to be brutal if there is not a big turnaround.

Let someone else from outside the family take the bullets next year and turn around the team.

 

[benjams77]

Well I think that anyone who goes from 4 games won in the prior year to 14 games won in the first year and then is at 15 wins at this point in the season, deserves major props.

Even if they pull off making it to the NCAA T this year, I still dont want him as head coach next.
Frankly, I think the SU fan expectations would put way too much pressure on a coach with only 2 years head coaching experience. I don't care who they hire - fans are going to be brutal if there is not a big turnaround.

Let someone else from outside the family take the bullets next year and turn around the team.l

LMAO… Yeah to much pressure for a man who hit 6 threes in the National Championship game and also single handily carried the team thru the BE tourney

Ok so some of us are high up on Gerry being the coach but may of you are just “can’t be Gerry” no matter what .. That’s just as bad.

This hangup with the Cuse and JB tree is dumb.. yeah JB had a drop off in his later years as most coaches tend to do … Red was not the right hire from the beginning.. Has zero to do with how good Gerry is and will be

JW is in a tough spot really .. If you hire a good coach that isn’t amazing and get to tourneys here and there but Gerry does kill it as a coach which I expect him too . that’s not gonna be a good look for JW not hiring him .. he’s gotta have a good feel about the future

 

[Irishsecra1]

LMAO… Yeah to much pressure for a man who hit 6 threes in the National Championship game and also single handily carried the team thru the BE tourney

Ok so some of us are high up on Gerry being the coach but may of you are just “can’t be Gerry” no matter what .. That’s just as bad.

This hangup with the Cuse and JB tree is dumb.. yeah JB had a drop off in his later years as most coaches tend to do … Red was not the right hire from the beginning.. Has zero to do with how good Gerry is and will be

JW is in a tough spot really .. If you hire a good coach that isn’t amazing and get to tourneys here and there but Gerry does kill it as a coach which I expect him too . that’s not gonna be a good look for JW not hiring him .. he’s gotta have a good feel about the future

Let me be clear here. I think Wildhack made a huge mistake not hiring Gerry instead of Red at the beginning. I have friends who supposedly know JB who said Gerry was JB's choice, not Red. No clue if that is true but I always have believed that Gerry would be a great coach. And he bleeds orange.

Was led to believe the hiring of Red over Gerry was more about optics than anything else. Again, no idea if that is true.

Again, see what he has done with Siena. Watch some of the games on ESPN Plus and watch how he coaches.
Watch some of his news conferences. The differences with Red's game time coaching and news conferences are stark.

That being said, I think many fans would be anti Gerry as coach before he even coached a game because of the JB exhaustion and frankly how badly Red has screwed this up. They will give him less benefit of a doubt than anyone from the outside. Those people want a complete reset - and believe me they outnumber those who want Gerry right now.

I think it would be incredibly hard for him to succeed in that kind of environment when everyone is looking to find something to criticize him for.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

Let me be clear here. I think Wildhack made a huge mistake...

And that's all I needed to see to skip the rest of the post.

For the gazillionth time, this decision came down from above. There should be zero judgment whatsoever on Wildhack for the hiring of Red.

Do people just not read any other posts? This has been reported by numerous posters in the know at this point.

 

[Cheriehoop]

The 1st place team has been a division 1 program for only 6 years, with the first 4 being in the NEC. Siena has a long history of basketball. On the merits the Merrimack coach should be looked at way before Gerry.

He’s been a head coach at his alma mater, Merrimack, for 10 years and just signed a 10 year contract through the 2035 season last year. It appears that he might really love his alma mater. He was an assistant there before becoming head coach and he played for Merrimack himself under a head coach who was at Merrimack for 36 years. Guess you can never say never but he seems to be very loyal and has turned down other jobs leading to his last long term contract through 2035.

 

[Irishsecra1]

And that's all I needed to see to skip the rest of the post.

For the gazillionth time, this decision came down from above. There should be zero judgment whatsoever on Wildhack for the hiring of Red.

Do people just not read any other posts? This has been reported by numerous posters in the know at this point.

Ok, whoever made the decision to hire Red, it was a huge mistake.

 

[nocohalo]

"We don't want to end up like Georgetown".

"We need to hire Gerry because he played for Cuse."

Sometimes I believe this fanbase deserves the misery.

 

[Scooch]

If McNamara played at Notre Dame no one would be clamoring to hire the 3rd year coach at Sienna. I’m glad he’s having some success there. We need to aim wayyyyy higher.

 

[rrlbees]

"We don't want to end up like Georgetown".

"We need to hire Gerry because he played for Cuse."

Sometimes I believe this fanbase deserves the misery.

congrats on finding a couple of those comments. now quote the 1,000 that say no gmac.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

If McNamara played at Notre Dame no one would be clamoring to hire the 3rd year coach at Sienna. I’m glad he’s having some success there. We need to aim wayyyyy higher.

I heard Greg Paulus' name thrown out there three years ago and he hasn't done anything at Niagara. If he had the same success as GMac, his name would be a candidate for many places, just based on his pedigree.

GMac is going to have options after this season, whether he takes them or not. I don't know this for sure, but I think they like the Albany area, the schools their kids are in and the proximity to Syracuse.

Siena is going to have to find a bunch of money to pay GMac after this season.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I heard Greg Paulus' name thrown out there three years ago and he hasn't done anything at Niagara. If he had the same success as GMac, his name would be a candidate for many places, just based on his pedigree.

GMac is going to have options after this season, whether he takes them or not. I don't know this for sure, but I think they like the Albany area, the schools their kids are in and the proximity to Syracuse.

Siena is going to have to find a bunch of money to pay GMac after this season.

I wonder if Pitt would hire him.

 

[orange7]

Should have been gmac over autry. All day. Every day.

Another blown call by the BoT, the AD, and University.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

I heard Greg Paulus' name thrown out there three years ago and he hasn't done anything at Niagara. If he had the same success as GMac, his name would be a candidate for many places, just based on his pedigree.

GMac is going to have options after this season, whether he takes them or not. I don't know this for sure, but I think they like the Albany area, the schools their kids are in and the proximity to Syracuse.

Siena is going to have to find a bunch of money to pay GMac after this season.

I feel like I saw someone bring up Paulus recently as a candidate, like in the last week or two. Yikes.

 

[cali315phan]

The year before Gerry got to siena they were 4-28. He's in year 2 and they're 16-7, 2nd in their conference and have a damn good shot at winning their conference tourney and making the dance. I know people want to go outside the program, and I'm all for it. But man did we whiff terribly on who the better coach is between him and Red. The turn around in 2 years at Siena is miraculous.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I feel like I saw someone bring up Paulus recently as a candidate, like in the last week or two. Yikes.

There were people here who said he was a better coach. They look stupid.

 

[FloridaCuse]

Should have been gmac over autry. All day. Every day.

Another blown call by the BoT, the AD, and University.

 

[FloridaCuse]

You’d have to quote someone here wanting Gmac. It’s like 95% against. You’re arguing into the clouds.

Maybe only 75%.