Remember Gerry McNamara?
The cult hero of Syracuse drilled six 3-pointers in the first half of the 2003 national championship game against Kansas to help lead the Orange to their only title under Jim Boeheim.
McNamara was a standout freshman on that team, but he wasn’t THE standout freshman. Some guy by the name of Carmelo Anthony was also a freshman on that team.
While Anthony went on to an NBA career that will assuredly land him in the Hall of Fame after his one-year stint with the Orange, McNamara went on to become the Cuse’s all-time 3-point leader, a record he still holds.
So why am I bringing up Gerry McNamara?
McNamara returned to Syracuse as a graduate assistant in 2009, where he has remained ever since, serving as the associate head coach under Adrian Autry.
Until yesterday.
Siena announced that McNamara would take over as its men’s basketball coach, taking over a program that won just four games this past season.
I always assumed McNamara would end up as the head coach at Syracuse, and he still may at some point.
It also alarmed me to find out that McNamara is now 40 years old. I guess I operate under the assumption that people just don’t age, or maybe it’s just romanticizing old Big East basketball, I’m not sure which.
McNamara attended Bishop Hannan (now Holy Cross) High School, where he won a PIAA Class 2A state championship over Sto-Rox in 2002.
In 2006, Elk County Catholic beat Bishop Hannan for the Class 1A state championship under coach Aaron Straub, a team led by Jesse Bosnik, among others.
Under their new name, Holy Cross most recently made it to the PIAA 2A championship this past season, where they lost to Aliquippa.
All of this is to say I’m not surprised in the least that McNamara has become a head coach, only that it didn’t happen sooner.
With his ties to upstate New York, my guess is McNamara will crush it at Siena and ultimately climb the coaching ladder.
And even if he doesn’t come back to Syracuse, he will forever be one of the greatest players in program history, as well as a Big East legend.
It’s just too bad Syracuse had to chase that football money and leave for the ACC. They haven’t been the same since, but I digress.
This is a good move for McNamara, and I think he will be a rock start in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Pat Kelsey was recently hired to take over Louisville and boy does he have his work cut out for him.
Chris Mack (who took over for Rick Pitino) didn’t exactly light it up, but he was John Wooden compared to the recent two-year disaster that was the Kenny Payne tenure.
Kelsey has won a ton at both Winthrop and Charleston, but this is Louisville, it’s a different animal.
Kelsey does have ties to the area (he was born in Cincinnati) and is considered a great X’s and O’s coach. Louisville has struggled since Pitino’s unceremonious exit in 2017.
It’s a program rich in tradition, however, in a basketball crazed state. People still showed up to their games despite a 12-52 record over the last two seasons.
If Kelsey succeeds, he will be treated like a God.
The other big hire was Dusty May going from Florida Atlantic to Michigan after the Wolverines fired Juwan Howard after an 8-24 season.
Isn’t it funny how so many players who were legends return to their alma maters as coaches, yet so few seem to have success? Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin come to mind as recent examples.
May took Florida Atlantic, a school with next to zero basketball history, to the Final 4 a year ago, and made the tournament again this season.
I wish both men well. The sport is better when both Louisville and Michigan are relevant.
