Gerry McNamara has signed a contract to take over as men's basketball coach at Siena, choosing to leave Syracuse after two decades as a standout player and assistant before eventually becoming assistant head coach of the Orange.
McNamara's commitment was announced by Siena on Friday, making him a college head coach for the first time. He replaces Siena graduate Carmen Maciariello, who was fired after going 68-72 in five seasons at the school, including a 4-28 mark this season.
McNamara has been part of the Syracuse staff since 2009, first as a graduate assistant and then as an assistant under Jim Boeheim for more than a decade. He became the Orange's assistant head coach last season when Adrian Autry took over as head coach.
The 40-year-old McNamara remains the fourth-leading scorer in Syracuse history, behind only Laurence Moten, Derrick Coleman and John Wallace. He started on Syracuse's 2003 national championship team, led by Carmelo Anthony. McNamara scored 18 points, all on 3-pointers, in the Orange's 81-78 win over Kansas in the NCAA title game.
“I am extremely honored and excited to lead Siena College as the new head men’s basketball coach,” McNamara said in a statement. “My family and I can’t wait to get started and get to know Siena and the capital region.”
McNamara started all 135 games of his playing career at Syracuse and remains the school's all-time leader in 3-point shots by a wide margin. His total score of 400 is well ahead of Buddy Boeheim (309) and Joseph Girard III (297). McNamara also leads Syracuse's all-time list in free throw percentage (.888) and minutes played (4,799).
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He played in what is now the NBA G League and in Europe before returning to Syracuse as a coach.
Siena, a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, plays its home games in Albany, about 150 miles east of Syracuse.
The small school has served as a springboard for coaches many times over the years: Fran McCaffery made three straight NCAA tournament runs at the school and has been at Iowa for 14 seasons since leaving Siena; Paul Hewitt got his first Division I job at Siena and left the team after three seasons to lead Georgia Tech to the national championship game. Mike Deane was an institution at Siena before heading to Marquette; New Rice coach Rob Lanier is also a former Siena coach.
The school has even used the route from Syracuse to Siena before. Former Orange player and assistant Louis Orr spent one season as Siena coach in 2000-01, winning a share of the MAAC regular-season title before moving to Seton Hall.
“Gerry’s illustrious career and championship pedigree at Syracuse University, coupled with his exceptional skills in mentoring young talent, are a perfect fit with the high expectations and storied tradition of Siena basketball,” Siena President Chuck Siefert said in a statement. “His appointment is not only about restoring championship success – a standard our fans rightly expect – but also symbolizes Siena’s rise in the broader collegiate landscape.”
One of McNamara's strengths is recruiting, and that will be necessary to turn things around in Siena. Among the 351 teams with full Division I membership this season, only DePaul (3-29), Coppin State (2-27), Mississippi Valley State (1-30) and Detroit Mercy (1-31) had records worse than the Holy.
