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5 candidates who could replace Adrian Autry as Syracuse head coach

5 candidates who could replace Adrian Autry as Syracuse head coach

Adrian Autry has been fired after Syracuse's ACC Tournament First Round loss to SMU. Our beat writer has identified five possible replacements for SU's coaching vacancy. Tara Deluca | Asst. Photo Editor

By Justin GirshonSenior Staff Writer

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After failing to reach the NCAA Tournament in each of his three seasons as head coach, Adrian Autry was let go by Syracuse on Tuesday. Autry was tasked with taking over for Basketball Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, who led the Orange to the 2003 national championship and six Final Fours across his 47 years at the helm.

Now, SU will look to hire a head coach who can help the program restore the “Orange Standard” and snap its five-year NCAA Tournament drought.

Here are five candidates who could replace Autry as Syracuse’s next head coach:

Bryan Hodgson, South Florida head coach

In his first year as South Florida’s head coach, Bryan Hodgson led the Bulls to an American Conference regular-season title with a 23-8 record. If USF wins the American Conference Tournament, it’ll clinch the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012. A year ago, South Florida had a 13-19 record under interim coach Ben Fletcher.

Hodgson took over the Bulls’ program after going 45-28 across two campaigns as Arkansas State’s head coach. Prior to Hodgson’s tenure, during which Arkansas State won the 2024-25 Sun Belt regular-season title, the Red Wolves had one winning campaign across the previous five seasons.

Before becoming a head coach, Hodgson, 38, was lauded as one of the top recruiters in the country while serving as an assistant for Nate Oats at Buffalo (2015-19) and Alabama (2019-23). At Alabama, he helped secure future No. 2 NBA Draft pick Brandon Miller’s commitment. Hodgson was also an assistant at Midland (2013-15), Jamestown Community College (2010-13) and Fredonia State (2007-10).

He played college basketball at Jamestown CC from 2005-07 and grew up in Olean, New York. From 2007-11, Hodgson worked summer basketball camps at Syracuse.

Mike Hopkins, New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach/head of player development

Mike Hopkins was formally named SU’s head coach-designate on June 25, 2015. This came after the NCAA cracked down on the Syracuse athletic program with a series of penalties two months earlier.

The plan was for Hopkins to take over for Boeheim, who was set to retire following the 2017-18 campaign. However, Hopkins shockingly accepted the head coach position at Washington days after Syracuse’s 2016-17 season ended. The Orange then extended Boeheim through the 2021-22 season, and he led the program through the end of the 2022-23 season before Autry was named his successor.

After amassing a 5-4 record as an interim head coach during Boeheim’s nine-game suspension in the 2015-16 season, Hopkins went 118-106 across seven years as the Huskies’ head coach. Washington made just one NCAA Tournament appearance under Hopkins and moved on from him after the 2023–24 season.

Hopkins, 56, then spent the 2024-25 season as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns before becoming an assistant coach and head of player development for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Before his coaching career, Hopkins played at SU from 1989-93. He then rejoined the Orange as an assistant coach in 1995, working 22 seasons under Boeheim before bolting for Washington.

Mike Hopkins directs the Orange during a 2017 matchup between Syracuse and Notre Dame. Hopkins was seen as Jim Boeheim’s eventual successor, but decided to become the head coach at Washington instead. Daily Orange File Photo

Josh Schertz, Saint Louis head coach

Saint Louis won 13 games the season before Josh Schertz became head coach. Two years later, the Billikens are on the verge of making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.

They built on a 19-win campaign in Schertz’s first season by becoming co-regular season champions in the Atlantic 10 with a 27-4 record in Year 2. While Saint Louis would automatically make the NCAA Tournament by winning the A-10 title, it could make the field with an at-large bid, as it’s currently a projected No. 9 seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology.

Schertz’s coaching career began as a student assistant at his alma mater, Florida Atlantic, in 1998. He then served as an assistant coach at Lynn (1999-2001) before becoming an associate head coach at Queens University in North Carolina (2001-03) and High Point (2003-08).

In his first head coaching gig at Division II Lincoln Memorial, Schertz led the program to 10 NCAA D-II tournament appearances in 13 seasons, and he was named the South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year seven times. It led him to his first Division I head coaching job at Indiana State, where he improved the program from 11 wins in his first season to 32 in his third season before he departed for Saint Louis.

Schertz, 50, was born in Brooklyn. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander recently reported that Saint Louis is currently presenting a huge contract upgrade to try and retain him for at least another season.

Gerry McNamara, Siena head coach

Before Gerry McNamara became Siena’s head coach, the Saints were coming off their worst season since the 1959-60 campaign. McNamara’s first season at the helm saw a 10-win improvement from four to 14 wins.

In McNamara’s second year, with a 23-11 record, Siena qualified for its first NCAA Tournament in 16 years after defeating Merrimack in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament championship on Tuesday.

Of course, McNamara was an assistant at Syracuse from 2011-24 — and a graduate manager from 2009-11 — before taking his first head coaching job with the Saints ahead of the 2024-25 season. When Autry took over for Boeheim, McNamara was elevated to the Orange’s associate head coach for the 2023-24 campaign. He was in the role for a season before taking Siena’s head coaching job.

“​​Adrian was the head coach here, and Gerry wanted a chance to have his own program,” Boeheim told The Daily Orange in November 2024. “It just worked out that Siena happened to come open and he was able to get that.”

McNamara, 42, starred for the Orange from 2002-06, helping them win the 2003 national championship. The former point guard’s 2,099 career points rank as the fourth-most in SU history, and his No. 3 is immortalized in the JMA Wireless Dome’s rafters.

An animated Gerry McNamara yells toward a referee. Before becoming Siena’s head coach, McNamara was an assistant at SU for over a decade. Cassie Roshu | Senior Staff Photographer

Tony Skinn, George Mason head coach

Since taking over as George Mason’s head coach in 2023, Tony Skinn has produced three straight seasons with 20 or more wins and has amassed a 60-29 record. The Patriots are the No. 5 seed in the A-10 Tournament, but they’re coming off an 86-57 regular-season finale win over Schertz’s Saint Louis squad.

George Mason is Skinn’s first head coaching job, which he earned after stints with Louisiana Tech (2015-18), Seton Hall (2018-21), Ohio State (2021-22) and Maryland (2022-23) as an assistant coach. Much of Skinn’s time as an assistant came working for current Villanova head coach Kevin Willard at Seton Hall and Maryland.

As a player, Skinn helped lead George Mason to the 2006 Final Four before playing professionally overseas from 2006-12. He then served as the director of athletics at Paul International High School in Washington, D.C., and was an assistant coach for Team Takeover — an AAU program Syracuse has strong ties with.

Skinn, 43, was born in Lagos, Nigeria, before moving to the United States when he was 2 years old. Following his second season at the helm, Skinn was named the A-10 Coach of the Year after the Patriots earned a share of their first-ever A-10 regular season title and notched a school record-tying 27 victories.

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Published on March 11, 2026 at 9:39 am
Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon

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