SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WOLF) \u2014 Syracuse University is turning to a familiar face with deep ties to both the program and Northeast Pennsylvania to lead its men\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n
According to multiple reports, Siena head coach Gerry McNamara has been selected as the Orange\u2019s next head coach, replacing Adrian Autry, who was recently dismissed after three seasons.<\/p>\n
McNamara, a Scranton native, starred at Bishop Hannan High School before becoming one of the most accomplished players in Syracuse history. His hiring also highlights a continued connection between Syracuse basketball and Scranton. <\/p>\n
McNamara, 42, returns to Syracuse after a successful two-year run at Siena, where he compiled a 37-30 record. This past season, he led the Saints to a 23-12 finish, a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship, and the program\u2019s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010. Siena was eliminated in the first round by top-seeded Duke.<\/p>\n
His return comes as Syracuse looks to rebound after missing the NCAA Tournament for five straight years\u2014the program\u2019s longest drought in more than half a century.<\/p>\n
During the hiring process, university officials reportedly emphasized increased investment in player recruitment, including name, image and likeness resources expected to rank in the upper tier of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Sources say the program significantly boosted roster spending this past season.<\/p>\n
McNamara\u2019s connection to Syracuse runs deep. As a four-year starting point guard from 2002 to 2006, he helped lead the Orange to a national championship in 2003. His No. 3 jersey is retired, and he still holds program records for career three-pointers and minutes played.<\/p>\n
After his playing career, McNamara began coaching at Syracuse as a graduate assistant before rising to a full-time assistant and later associate head coach. He then left to take over the Siena program.<\/p>\n
Now, as the ninth head coach in Syracuse history, McNamara will look to restore the program\u2019s success and bring the Orange back to the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WOLF) \u2014 Syracuse University is turning to a familiar face with deep ties to both the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-145434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}