5 key moments that doomed Adrian Autry era
Syracuse's road loss to Boston College doomed its 2025-26 season. The defeat was just one of five defining moments of Adrian Autry's head coaching tenure. Leonardo Eriman | Daily Orange File Photo
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The Adrian Autry era is over. After three seasons helming his alma mater, Autry was fired Wednesday.
Syracuse went 49-48 under Autry, going from a 20-win season in 2023-24 to back-to-back losing years for the first time since the 1960s. SU’s March Madness drought stretched from two seasons to five, securing another miss after a 86-69 loss to SMU in the ACC Tournament.
Here are five key moments that led to the downfall and eventual end of the Autry era:
March 18-April 1, 2024: Quadir Copeland, Maliq Brown enter the transfer portal
Syracuse’s first season under Autry was far from a disappointment. The Orange earned an NIT bid, but denied it after a 20-win season and loss in the ACC Tournament Second Round to NC State. It was all downhill from there.
Guard Quadir Copeland, who finished second in ACC Sixth Man of the Year voting as a sophomore, entered the transfer portal on March 18. Copeland felt he couldn’t reach his potential at SU, and its “vision didn’t align” with his. Less than two weeks later, Syracuse lost Copeland’s close friend and ACC All-Defensive player Maliq Brown. The forward entered the transfer portal on April 1, eventually becoming a key role player for Duke, a powerhouse program.
The moves came at the same time as top recruiter and assistant coach Gerry McNamara left for Siena’s head coaching job. Top scorer Judah Mintz decided to enter the 2024 NBA Draft and, all of a sudden, all that was left of SU’s team was J.J. Starling and Chris Bell.
With limited resources, Syracuse was forced to buy low on mid-major players in hopes of them flourishing in the ACC. Jaquan Carlos and Jyare Davis struggled while coming over from Hofstra and Delaware, respectively. Eddie Lampkin Jr. was the Orange’s big fish in the transfer portal, but he proved inconsistent. As a result, Syracuse turned in its worst year in five decades.
Dec. 21, 2024: Syracuse loses to Maryland at Barclays Center by 27 points
After resetting its roster in the offseason, SU faltered in the early going of its second year under Autry. The Orange barely snuck by Le Moyne, Colgate and Youngstown State, even needing overtime to beat the Penguins at home. Syracuse battled in nonconference play, but got embarrassed in Brooklyn at the Gotham Classic.
In what Autry described as the “worst loss” of his tenure to that point, the Orange lost to Maryland 87-60. The contest counted just the same as any other loss, but it proved a point: Syracuse was further from its “Orange Standard” than ever before.
With Starling out due to injury, the Orange turned the ball over 21 times. Maryland led 43-17 at the half, and saw its lead stretch to as large as 38 points in the second half. Postgame, Autry characterized his team’s performance as embarrassing and a disappointment. He admitted, for the first time all season, that he felt his team didn’t compete.
The Terrapins went on to lose to the eventual national champions, Florida, in the Sweet 16. SU never came close to reaching the NCAA Tournament, mounting pressure for Autry’s third year.
Jan. 4, 2025: J.J. Starling, Donnie Freeman play final game together of 2024-25 season in loss to FSU
When Syracuse built the rest of its roster around mid-major players and Lampkin Jr., it expected Starling and Donnie Freeman to be the focal points of the team. Starling dropped 13.3 points per game as a sophomore the year before, on nearly 46% shooting.
Freeman was SU’s highest-ranked recruit since Carmelo Anthony, and landed at No. 6 on ESPN’s 2024 recruiting list, behind five of the top six picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. But the duo rarely shared the court. Starling broke his hand before SU’s Dec. 3 game against Tennessee, returning against Florida State. On Jan. 4. Freeman injured his right foot, and the FSU game was his last of the season.
The pair played just seven of Syracuse’s 33 games together. The Orange went 4-3 in the games the two played together, but went 3-4 without Starling and 8-11 without Freeman. Playing without two top players isn’t easy, but good teams have the depth to adjust. Good coaches make it work. Autry has used the injuries to defend Syracuse’s struggles on multiple occasions.
He mentioned injuries as a factor in SU’s lack of success after Syracuse’s 2025 ACC Tournament loss to SMU in the second round. He did it again in October 2025, at Syracuse’s 2025-26 Media Day. Remarkably, he mentioned it once more after SU’s regular-season finale loss to Pitt in March 2026.
Nov. 24-26, 2025: Syracuse fails to capture win in Las Vegas
On Nov. 24, 2025, Syracuse was tied with then-No. 3 Houston 67-67. The Orange had possession with seconds to play in regulation, but couldn’t get a shot to fall. The Cougars then took control in overtime, as SU watched its golden opportunity at a monumental Quad 1 victory slip away.
Things only got worse as the week in Las Vegas went on. Even as Kansas played without projected top 2026 NBA Draft pick Darryn Peterson, the Orange couldn’t take down the Jayhawks. Syracuse trailed by two with six minutes to play, but Kansas pulled away in the closing minutes.
After dropping both of its first two games in Vegas, Syracuse was dealt the worst hand possible by the organizers of the Players’ Era Festival. The Orange found out late in the evening that they’d have to face then-No. 15 Iowa State at 10 a.m. local time the next morning. Expectably, with little time to prepare, SU was pummeled.
The Orange did win their first game after the Las Vegas trip, beating Tennessee at home for their only Quad 1 win. But Syracuse had a chance at more, and it’s a chance SU squandered by exiting a national stage without a Quad 1 win. SU finished Autry’s third year with a 1-10 record in Quad 1 games.
Jan. 17, 2026: Syracuse falls to Boston College, proves it’s still an ACC bottom feeder
The first signs that SU might not be fit for March Madness in Autry’s third year came when it fell to Hofstra at home on Dec. 13, 2025. The loss to the Pride began to look like a simple hiccup early on, though, as the Orange began ACC play 3-1, with dominant wins over Georgia Tech, Pitt and then Florida State. But in Chestnut Hill, SU proved it’s still part of the ACC’s bottom feeders.
Boston College began conference play 0-4, and was just 7-10 after a 24-point loss to Clemson on Jan. 13. The Eagles were supposed to be another walk in the park for the Orange. Instead, Syracuse blew a five-point halftime lead and lost the overtime period 17-9.
It proved once and for all that, despite heavier investment in Syracuse’s roster, the Orange again weren’t fit for the NCAA Tournament. BC went on to finish 4-14 in conference play, missing the ACC Tournament for the second straight season and firing head coach Earl Grant on March 8.
March Madness teams simply don’t lose to the worst of the worst in their conference. But Syracuse isn’t a March Madness team. If it were, Autry might still have his job.
