Adrian Autry, Syracuse players make final plea to keep head coach
Ahead of an imminent decision on Adrian Autry’s future at Syracuse, SU players and Autry made their final plea to keep the head coach. Courtesy of The Atlantic Coast Conference
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As his players spoke at the podium, Adrian Autry stared straight at the ground beneath him. Tyler Betsey talked about what his head coach meant to him as his eyes welled up. If Autry looked forward, it could’ve caused him to do the same.
Syracuse (15-17, 6-12 Atlantic Coast) fell to SMU (20-12, 8-10 ACC) in the ACC Tournament First Round 86-69 Tuesday, ending its third season under Autry. This was SU’s last chance at quieting the noise surrounding Autry’s job security.
After another losing season and a fifth-straight NCAA Tournament miss, the decision is now out of their hands. Tuesday’s postgame media availability acted as the final say for both Autry and his players to plead their case.
“In complete transparency, some people might agree to disagree, but I feel like the best teams are player-led, honestly,” SU forward Donnie Freeman said postgame. “So, it wouldn’t be fair of us to put the fault on the staff.”
Autry didn’t want to make excuses. He owned up to everything. Autry said he knows the expectations that come with the Syracuse head coaching gig, and he tried to honor them. But he looked at what he calls “reality.”
Name, image and likeness and the changing college sports landscape became a struggle to adapt to. Before he took the job, he thought he didn’t put much emphasis on it. Three years later, sitting at the Spectrum Center podium, Autry feels no one knew college sports would “progress to this extent.” SU lagged behind.
“The investment has to be there from top to bottom, and there’s no way around it,” Autry said. “And I think that was me trying to keep up pace, and us trying to keep up pace, in that arena. But still, I don’t shy away from the job that I did. I’m harder on myself than anybody. I didn’t get the results that we wanted. So, I don’t shy away from coaching.”
When asked postgame why they believe Autry should be given a chance at a fourth season, William Kyle III and Bryce Zephir felt it wasn’t their place to answer. Both are out of eligibility and wouldn’t be playing for Autry next year anyway, though Kyle said he loves Autry and will love him forever.
Center Akir Souare took the personal route, saying Autry is human, just like anyone else, and can make mistakes. Others took the blame on their own chin.
“He cares,” point guard Naithan George said. “Sometimes it just comes down to players making shots. And today, I just didn’t make shots. And if I had made a couple, it would have been different. So, it’s just little things like that. It really had nothing to do with him.”
The result isn’t what it was supposed to be. The Orange were built in Autry’s third year to break a March Madness drought and bring SU back to national prominence. Betsey and Nate Kingz — who dropped 25 points Tuesday — admitted that, inside the locker room, many felt they could’ve done something special. But Kingz said he saw growth from everyone individually, crediting improvements to Autry and his staff.
As Betsey sat at the podium and Autry looked down, the sophomore reflected on his year with the head coach. He reflected on the times Autry would yell at him in practice, and how he’d be mad while realizing that his coaching was well-intentioned.
“He’s a player’s coach. He believes in us,” Betsey said. “He was a player, so he knows the mind games and just everything that goes into being a student athlete. The struggles that people in the outside world don’t really know.”
Zephir said whenever he’d arrive at the Carmelo K. Anthony Center early in the morning, Autry was already there. He added that Autry is genuine, which he says is rare in the basketball world.
When Autry recruited Kingz, he presented an opportunity. Kingz felt many coaches usually don’t live up to their pitch and have never fully believed in him along his journey from NAIA to Power Four. He thought Autry was different.
“No, we didn’t get the results we wanted this year,” Kingz said. “But I don’t think he deserves all the negativity and slander that he’s been getting. I think he’s a lot better than what people make of him.”
As George reflected on his year, he said Autry uplifted him even as he posted poor performances. Autry was “consistent,” George said, never getting too high or low.
“You don’t see that a lot anywhere, to know how much he loved us and showed it every day, and smiled through the lows,” George said. “That speaks a lot of volumes. To me, it would have been easy for him to put his head down, but he kept his head high and kept pushing and showed up every day for us.”
But now, none of the noise matters. Syracuse’s players had 32 games, and Tuesday’s postgame media availability, to make their case. A decision comes next.
