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It hit Gerry McNamara that he’d no longer live in Syracuse while looking at his fireplace in July. Outside, a truck contained everything he’d permanently take to Siena, where he was in his third month as a head coach.

Inside McNamara’s empty Syracuse home was just the fireplace, which he remembers sitting alone at when he moved into the house. Looking at it reminded him of where he raised his kids. Then, the emotional realization set in — McNamara was leaving.

He remained emotional for the first 20 minutes of his ride back to Siena. But as McNamara drove further away from Syracuse, he became increasingly excited about the new journey he was about to embark on.

“There’s a small window for you individually to challenge yourself professionally, and I had a small window that I needed to capitalize on,” McNamara said of taking the job at Siena.

Following a 15-year run on SU’s coaching staff from 2009-24, McNamara was named Siena’s head coach on March 29. It’s the first time he’s left Syracuse since playing professionally after graduating in 2006. McNamara was a four-year star with the Orange, helping them win the 2003 National Championship.

Last year, his No. 3 became immortalized in the JMA Wireless Dome’s rafters. After a storied 19-year playing and coaching career at SU, the program legend capitalized on the opportunity to craft a new legacy outside Syracuse — where he lived longer than his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Just 10 games into McNamara’s first season, the Saints’ five wins are more than their four last year.

“Everybody gets to a point as an assistant where you feel you learned what you need to do and you just got to get the opportunity (to become a head coach),” former SU head coach Jim Boeheim said.

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McNamara first realized he wanted to be a head coach during the Orange’s 2016 Final Four run. He started becoming comfortable with his scouting and player-development routine. Meanwhile, Boeheim gave McNamara the freedom to develop his own voice in practice.

Most importantly, McNamara felt he was learning from himself. He said he started being himself and operating differently than how he was taught or how Boeheim teaches. McNamara became fully confident in himself during SU’s March Madness brilliance.

Before McNamara thought about coaching, he envisioned playing in the NBA. However, the two-time First-Team All-Big East star went undrafted in the 2006 Draft. He spent the following three years bouncing between the NBA’s Developmental League and overseas.

In 2009, McNamara grew tired of continuously traveling the world. Boeheim then called him, recommending he consider joining SU’s staff as a graduate manager.

At first, McNamara was hesitant and told his former coach he’d think about it. Boeheim let his former star guard contemplate it for two weeks before calling him back. McNamara agreed to return to central New York.

“I thought it was probably the rejuvenation I needed,” McNamara said.

The process was natural, which McNamara attributes to his familiarity with Boeheim and assistant coach Mike Hopkins. Then, another familiar face, Adrian Autry, joined the staff a year later.

But what helped McNamara most was rejoining Boeheim’s family-oriented culture. McNamara felt the comfort Boeheim created from top to bottom was the most beneficial for the program, surpassing the on-court success.

“For me coming back, it was right back to being back in the family,” McNamara said.

Boeheim instantly embraced McNamara when he was a freshman in 2002. After a practice during the Orange’s first week of training, junior walk-on guard Andrew Kouwe remembers walking into Boeheim’s office to rave about five-star freshman Carmelo Anthony.

Gerry McNamara had his No. 3 retired on March 4, 2023. The guard averaged 15.5 points, 4.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds across 135 games playing for the Orange from 2002-2006. Meghan Hendricks | Daily Orange File Photo

In response, Kouwe recalls Boeheim smirking before saying, “Wait until you see McNamara play.” At the time, Kouwe didn’t know much about McNamara besides him being scrappy and from Scranton. But that interaction showed Kouwe that SU’s other freshman was special, too. Soon after, he took note of McNamara’s competitiveness.

“It’s probably why he became such a great assistant at Syracuse and now is a coach at Siena. That competitiveness, that passion for hoops. That’s authentic,” Kouwe said.

Beyond his comfort within the program and competitive drive, McNamara’s intangibles from playing guard also spearheaded the transition. As he progressed through his upper-class years, McNamara became an extension of Boeheim on the court.

“It was easy. He was a voice on the floor when he played, so his voice stayed the same as a coach,” Arinze Onuaku, a forward at SU from 2006-10, said.

Boeheim said McNamara was a great coach from Day 1, helping him land a full-time role on Syracuse’s staff as an assistant once there was an opening in 2011.

Whether it was working alongside Hopkins with the guards, recruiting or anything in between, McNamara focused on what was in front of him. He remained consistent year in and year out.

“Before you know it, you’re a decade in,” McNamara said while laughing.

While Hopkins — who was supposed to succeed Boeheim when he retired — departed for Washington in 2017, McNamara and Autry became mainstays on SU’s staff. In 2016, Autry received a promotion to associate head coach.

This sparked SU’s new succession plan once Hopkins left a year later. Following Boeheim’s retirement, Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack said the plan to have Autry become head coach was in place for “a while.”

McNamara also received a promotion and stepped into Autry’s old title. Yet, he soon had an opportunity to finally advance to coaching’s pinnacle. A few days after Siena fired head coach Carmen Maciariello on March 20 following a 4-28 season, McNamara got a phone call asking if he was interested in the job. “Obviously yes,” he answered.

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

McNamara then had phone calls and in-person meetings with Siena President Chuck Seifert and Athletic Director John D’Argenio. In a process that happened quickly, McNamara was formally introduced as the Saints’ 19th head coach in program history on April 2.

Throughout the process, McNamara kept Autry — who lived a few houses away from him — in the loop. There wasn’t a conversation McNamara had with Siena that he didn’t immediately tell Autry about. SU’s head coach showed full support.

“I lost a close friend first and foremost,” Autry said of McNamara at Syracuse’s media day. “Obviously, a bright mind, great coach. He’s going to do great things at Siena.”

McNamara said he wanted to emulate Boeheim’s “family-first” model when building his staff, which he began thinking about when he first realized he wanted to be a head coach. He looked to construct his staff around people who trust each other, are fully invested in one another, believe in each other and motivate each other.

So, of the five coaches he hired, three were Syracuse alumni. Onuaku and Ryan Blackwell, an SU guard from 1996-2000, were hired as assistants alongside Ben Lee, who worked under Hopkins at Washington. Meanwhile, McNamara hired Ryan Beaury — who served as a student manager, graduate assistant and video coordinator for the Orange — as the Saints’ director of basketball operations.

“Having that Syracuse kind of family in Siena definitely enhances the connection between everybody,” Peter Carey, who transferred to the Saints from SU following the 2023-24 season, said.

The coaching staff’s rapport instantly trickled into players. Beaury joked it took just 38 seconds into Siena’s first practice for the team to buy into what McNamara was building. Meanwhile, Carey added the Saints are honored to be in a position where they can learn from someone who thrived on college basketball’s highest stage.

But for as much as he’s taken from Boeheim and SU’s culture, Blackwell has seen McNamara implement his own philosophies. Even so, the staff is still trying to make SU proud.

“It’s fun that if we can start winning, then people will say, ‘Wow, this is part of the Syracuse tree,’” Blackwell said. “We want to do Syracuse proud and make our own little niche here in Siena.”

McNamara loved Syracuse so much that he put off his eight-year goal of becoming a head coach. But when Siena’s position opened, McNamara said it was a no-brainer to make the jump.

With the Orange, McNamara saw the then-Pepsi Arena as a special place firsthand playing in 2004. Additionally, he praised Siena’s history and support for its basketball program. Combining these factors with his ties to the capital area and its recruiting hotbed, McNamara was presented with the perfect storm to move on from SU.

Since the Saints haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2010, McNamara naturally wants to return the program to prominence. However, just as his progress was in becoming a head coach, McNamara knows he has to focus on what’s in front of him before achieving long-term success.

“I can’t think too far ahead because I’ve got to win today,” McNamara said.

Published on December 12, 2024 at 12:43 am

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon