Gerry McNamara named Syracuse men’s basketball head coach
Siena head coach and SU legend Gerry McNamara has been named Syracuse men’s basketball's head coach after two seasons with the Saints. Meghan Hendricks | Daily Orange File Photo
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UPDATE: This story was updated at 9:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, March 24, 2026.
Siena head coach Gerry McNamara has been named Syracuse’s next head coach, the program announced Tuesday morning. Across his two seasons with the Saints, McNamara notched a 37-30 record, including the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported McNamara had been reportedly hired Sunday afternoon. Tuesday morning, Thamel reported SU was finalizing the deal, and the university announced McNamara’s hire an hour later.
During the hiring process, Thamel reported SU officials promised McNamara a name, image and likeness commitment that projects in the top third of the Atlantic Coast Conference. A source familiar with the program’s thinking told The Daily Orange SU spent just under $8 million on its roster this past season. They said the figure was triple the cost of the Orange’s 2024-25 roster and guessed it was seventh-to-ninth spending-wise in the ACC this year.
“I love this place. I love what Syracuse means: to the fans, to the players who have worn this jersey, to the people of central New York. This program has given me everything, and I am ready to give everything back to it,” McNamara said in a press release. “College basketball has changed. How you build a program, recruit talent, compete for resources and win looks different than it did even five years ago. I know that. I’m ready for it. What hasn’t changed is what Orange Nation expects, and what this place deserves. We are going to build something special here.”
During the 2024-25 season, McNamara’s first at the helm, Siena improved from a 4-28 record the year before to 14-18. This season, the Saints registered a 23-12 record, won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament and narrowly fell to No. 1 overall seed Duke in the first round of March Madness.
McNamara, 42, takes over Syracuse’s program from the recently fired Adrian Autry, who went 49-48 across three seasons after replacing Jim Boeheim in 2023. Before becoming Siena’s head coach, McNamara was a graduate assistant at SU under Boeheim from 2009-11 before being promoted to an assistant coach for the 2011-12 season.
When Autry was promoted to head coach, McNamara became SU’s associate head coach for the 2023-24 campaign before he left to become Siena’s head coach. Of course, McNamara is one of the best players to ever play for SU, too.
A four-year starting point guard from 2002-06, McNamara’s No. 3 is immortalized in the JMA Wireless Dome. Most notably, he helped Syracuse win the 2003 national championship, and he holds school records for career 3-pointers (400) and minutes played (4,799).
As the ninth head coach in program history, McNamara will look to help the Orange end their five-year NCAA Tournament drought, which is the program’s longest spell in over five decades.
