The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program has hired former forward standout Ryan Blackwell in a newly created role.
Blackwell will serve as Director of Player Engagement. He joins Gerry McNamara in the return to his alma mater. Syracuse officially announced the news in a press release on Wednesday.
Blackwell will serve as the program’s primary connector to its extended network of alumni and former student-athletes.
He is charged with developing, assisting and supporting a comprehensive alumni and donor engagement strategy in coordination with the athletics development staff that aligns with department priorities.
Blackwell will lead engagement events, which includes mentorship and networking opportunities, as well as alumni weekends, on-campus and student-athlete activations while ensuring all activies align with ACC and NCAA guidelines.
In an interview with Steve Infanti, Blackwell described the role as a hybrid position where he’ll also be involved in coaching, scouting and recruiting while his main focus will be with engagement.
Blackwell expressed his belief in McNamara as a culture changer and pointed to the Siena turnaround as proof. Blackwell joined McNamara from the onset of his head coaching career and now follows him back to Syracuse.
“I told him whatever role you need me to fill, I’m going to fill it,” Blackwell said. “And I know we’ll win.”
Blackwell played three seasons at Syracuse under Jim Boeheim from 1997-2000. He started all 100 games of his Syracuse career and scored 1,175 points while helping the program to two Sweet 16 appearances. He was named third team All-BIG EAST Conference as a senior. The Orange finished 26-9, 21-12 and 26-6 in Blackwell’s three years and earned NCAA Tournament invitations each season.
Blackwell played professional basketball for ten years in various countries, viz., France, England, Portugal, Uruguay and Japan. He began his coaching career in Japan and led Osaka Evessa to a 67-35 record and two straight second place finishes in the Japanese B League.
After completing his professional playing career and returning to the United States, Blackwell spent a year coaching at IMG Academy in Florida. He served as boys’ varsity basketball coach at Liverpool High School from 2015-2024. He guided the Warriors — with eventual Bryant and St. Bonaventure guard Charles Pride — to a 26-0 record and the Class AA New York State Championship in 2018. Liverpool was 151-50 and won five sectional titles during his tenure.
Syracuse also announced a new title for Pete Corasaniti, who was an assistant coach/director of operations last season. Corasaniti will now be the Associate AD for Men’s Basketball and Operations. He’s been with Syracuse since 2019 and before that served as a manager and graduate assistant.
In his hiring announcement, it was stated that Corasaniti will oversee the director of basketball operations, director of player personnel, director of engagement (Blackwell), and administrative assistant to the head coach. There is speculation that Ryan Beaury will be coming from Siena where he served as director of operations for McNamara. That leaves a general manager and a director of player personnel to be hired…..let the speculation begin on who might fill those positions.
