<\/p>\n
Nevada Smith is the new Siena men’s basketball coach.<\/p>\n
Marquette Athletics<\/p>\n
The Siena men’s basketball program is set to hire Nevada Smith as its next head coach.<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Siena University named Nevada Smith on Wednesday as the 20th head coach in its men\u2019s basketball program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Smith\u00a0replaces\u00a0Gerry McNamara<\/a>, a Syracuse alumnus who returned to his alma mater<\/a> to become head coach last week after guiding Siena to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Smith will be formally introduced at a news conference next week, with more details to follow.<\/p>\n \u201cMy family and I could not be more excited to arrive in the Capital Region and become a part of the Siena community,\u201d Smith said in a news release. \u201cI am honored and humbled to be able to lead this program, and build upon the momentum created by Gerry McNamara, his staff, and the great players who have proudly worn the Siena jersey throughout the years. I would like to thank President Seifert, John D\u2019Argenio, and the search committee for having the trust in me to lead this storied program. I can\u2019t wait to get to work. GO SAINTS!\u201d<\/p>\n Smith interviewed for the position on Sunday, according to sources. The 45-year-old\u00a0just completed his fifth season at Marquette of the Big East on the staff of head coach\u00a0Shaka Smart. Smith spent his first two seasons as special assistant to the head coach and the past three as assistant coach. The Golden Eagles were 110-61 during that time with four NCAA Tournament appearances and a Big East Tournament title. However, Marquette slipped to a 12-20 record this season.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Siena Now newsletter<\/p>\n Keep up with the latest happening at Siena University.<\/p>\n Sign up here<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Smith followed Smart from Texas, where he served as the Longhorns’ director of program development for one season.<\/p>\n Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Though he has never been a Division I head coach, Smith served as a G-League head coach with the Sioux Falls\u00a0Skyforce, a Miami Heat affiliate, for three seasons from 2016 to 2019. He was head coach of the G-League\u2019s Rio Grande Valley Vipers, a Houston Rockets affiliate, from 2013 to 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Siena University continues its climb in the national landscape, the appointment of Nevada Smith as our next men\u2019s basketball head coach marks a significant new chapter for our program,\u201d Siena president Chuck Seifert said in school\u2019s news\u00a0release. \u201cNevada is a proven winner with a sophisticated basketball mind. His unique blend of professional head coaching experience and recent success at the highest level of college basketball makes him the ideal leader for our Saints.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Smith has a reputation for a gifted offensive mind. Marquette ranked seventh, 21st and 35th in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency from 2022 to 2025, according to kenpom.com, before slipping to 119th this season.<\/p>\n As a player at Division III Bethany (W. Va.), Smith led the nation in 3-pointers per game in 2000-01 and finished his career with a program-record 313 made 3-pointers. However, his offense doesn\u2019t revolve around the 3-point arc.<\/p>\n \u201cThey really try to dominate the paint with 2s,\u201d said Case Western Reserve head coach Todd McGuinness, a college teammate and close friend of Smith. \u201cI know everyone says, ‘Oh, it looks like they shoot a million 3s,’ but his goal is to dominate around the rim. That\u2019s their goal. Their first thing is to attack the rim.\u201d<\/p>\n Marquette athletic director Mike\u00a0Broeker is a Siena graduate who has a son on the Saints’ golf team.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Smith lived in\u00a0Saratoga Springs during the offseason while in the G-League, according to McGuinness. Smith married his wife, Lindsay, at\u00a0Saratoga National Golf Club. They have two daughters,\u00a0Finley and Scotland.<\/p>\n Smith worked as a Division III head coach at Keystone College, where he had a 39-16 record from 2011 to 2013. His first head coaching job was at SUNY Canton, a junior college, where Smith went 7-17 in 2004-05.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Nevada into the Siena family, and add a talented, driven young coach who will help us continue building and elevating our men\u2019s basketball program,\u201d Siena athletic director John D\u2019Argenio said in a new release. \u201cWhen his name first came up through our\u00a0NBA connections, it was clear that Nevada was someone we needed to target.\u201d<\/p>\n A native of Vandergrift, Pa., Smith also worked as an assistant coach at Ithaca College from 2006 to 2011. The Bombers went 96-40 during his tenure, advanced to a pair of NCAA Division III playoffs in 2009 and 2011, and won the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) title in 2010.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I\u2019m thrilled for him, I\u2019m not at all surprised,\u201d retired Ithaca coach Jim Mullins said. \u201cI figured, at some point in time, just based on his basketball acumen and what he\u2019s done, the steps he\u2019s taken, it was just a matter of time before somebody gave him a shot. I said all along\u2026 all any head coach is, is an assistant coach that somebody gives a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n During the Saints’ coaching search, Siena also spoke with former Washington head coach and Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins, who withdrew his name, as well as Vermont head coach John Becker,\u00a0Hofstra associate head coach Mike DePaoli and former Siena coach Fran McCaffery, who is now at Penn, according to sources.<\/p>\n Smith spent the 2005-06 season as an assistant coach and head junior varsity coach at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. He\u00a0began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at St. Lawrence University for two seasons from 2002 to 2004.<\/p>\n Smith will take over a Siena program that went 23-12 this season and pushed Duke to the limit<\/a> in a 71-65 first-round loss in the\u00a0NCAA Tournament. However, the Saints could have a dramatically different roster after McNamara\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Sophomore guard Gavin Doty<\/a>, a first-team all-MAAC selection, and All-Rookie forward Francis Folefac<\/a> have declared their intent to enter the\u00a0NCAA transfer portal when it opens April 7. The Saints are graduating all-league senior guard Justice Shoats, graduate center Riley Mulvey and graduate forward Antonio Chandler, who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA with two games left in the regular season. Senior forward Brendan Coyle has one year of eligibility remaining.<\/p>\n Redshirt sophomore guard Reid Ducharme, who didn\u2019t play this year because of a shoulder injury, and sophomore forward Tajae Jones, who played only three games this season, also plan to enter the portal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nevada Smith is the new Siena men’s basketball coach. Marquette Athletics The Siena men’s basketball program is set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[122692,4044,247896,13478,3729,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-558977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-alco","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-college-siena","11":"tag-latestnews","12":"tag-local","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}