CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The basketball buzz is clearly back in Syracuse, thanks to a familiar face.
Gerry McNamara, the ultracompetitive guard who helped guide the Orange to their only NCAA national championship in 2003 as a freshman, has been entrusted with restoring success to a once-proud program that has fallen on hard times and missed the last five NCAA Tournaments.
That would have seemed unfathomable for Syracuse during its heyday under Hall of
Fame coach Jim Boeheim.
McNamara, who was hired as coach in March, understands the task at hand. But he said any outside scrutiny pales in comparison to the internal pressure he has put on himself.
“I’m going to try to bring this program back into national relevance,” McNamara said Wednesday at the ACC Tipoff. “I believe that can be done because I have been part of it. So that’s the goal — to be back on that national stage.”
Given his familiarity with the program and recent coaching success at Siena, McNamara was a no-brainer hire for new Syracuse athletic director Bryan Blair.
The fanbase had been clamoring for McNamara’s return for the past couple of years as the Orange struggled to make strides under another former Syracuse player-turned-coach, Adrian Autry. And when Siena won the Metro Conference last year and took No. 1 seed Duke to the wire in the first round as a 16 seed, the demand got louder.
While Carmelo Anthony was the star of that national championship team that knocked off Kansas, McNamara was the backbone. He earned folk hero status in Central New York with a knack for knocking down clutch 3-pointers long after Anthony turned pro after his freshman season.
McNamara was known for his fiery persona and for diving on the court or jumping into the crowd to save a loose ball with little regard for his own body.
McNamara plans to demand toughness from his players on “every possession of every game for a full 40 minutes.”
“That’s a non-negotiable here,” McNamara said. “That was non-negotiable at the last place and will be for every team that I ever coach. There is a demand given how hard winning is, and there is a price that has to be paid. If you’re not willing to pay it, you’re not going to the result that you’re looking for.”
Blair was blown away by McNamara during the interview process and his undeniable energy, enthusiasm and contagious competitive spirit.
He walked away thinking “I flat out love this guy.”
Seven months later, Blair is confident McNamara was the right hire.
“You can’t leave a conversation with Gerry and not want to work harder, and be a better version of yourself,” Blair said in an interview with The Associated Press. “That’s his superpower. He makes everybody around him better, and you want to be better.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer learned that firsthand last March.
Scheyer’s top-seeded Blue Devils found themselves on the ropes trailing 43-32 at half to McNamara’s Saints, who only played five hard-nosed unheralded players until the final minute.
Ultimately, Siena couldn’t complete the tournament shocker. The Saints faded late and lost 71-65, but not before earning a ton of respect.
A humbled Scheyer openly admitted after the game that McNamara outcoached him.
Now he'll have to face McNamara in ACC play.
“I think he has a good feel, good mind for the game,” Scheyer said. ”... You have to figure out how to win wherever you are, and he clearly did that. He recruited to that at Siena, and their style of play fit players in that league. Ton of respect for him.”
McNamara said his plan for Syracuse's return to the top begins with recruiting his type of players.
“You have to make sure you are recruiting guys that love basketball and want to be competitive,” McNamara said. “Those are the guys we are after.”
It’s why McNamara brought three players with him from Siena, including Gavin Doty, who scored 21 points in the loss to Duke. McNamara believes Doty will help set the standard at Syracuse for years to come.
McNamara said when recruiting Doty, a Fulton, New York native, he saw a player who was “relentlessly competitive,” and “won every loose ball” despite often playing against more talented players.
“You couldn’t take him off the court because he impacted winning,” McNamara said.
His Syracuse team won’t look much like the one he played for under Boeheim. He doesn’t plan to use the 2-3 zone as his primary defense, although he still expects to lean on his former coach for advice.
They regularly meet in his office and talk basketball and life.
McNamara knows winning at Syracuse will take more than just competitive players. It requires money. Lots of it.
In today’s NIL world, it’s hard to attract top-level players without the financial means to pay them. It’s why Syracuse officials have repeatedly asked McNamara to talk at fundraising events.
That is where McNamara’s reputation may benefit Syracuse the most. He understands what Syracuse is about. He’s lived on “The Hill” and is familiar with how people live and die with Syracuse basketball, and how badly they want a winner.
He knows if they get back to winning, there will be 30,000-plus fans at the JMA Wireless Dome providing a huge home-court advantage.
When McNamara attends a fundraising event in the community, Blair jokes that members of his staff say it is like one of The Beatles walking into the room.
“He talks about this Block-S in a way that frankly I don’t know that a lot of other people could,” Blair said, referring to the school’s large orange ‘S’ logo. “He knows what it represents and is protective over what our product looks like on the floor and how it represents this broader community really well. He just gets what Syracuse means to all of Central New York, to this entire campus and community.”
McNamara isn’t putting a timeline on when Syracuse will return to national prominence, but believes it will happen.
Why? Because he’s lived it.
“I won a national championship here. I have been back to two Final Fours as an assistant coach,’” McNamara said. “I feel like we can do it because I have absolutely been a part of it. Historically this program is one of the elite brands in college basketball. And with the climate that we’re in, I know we will get the financial support we need to be competitive.”
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AP Basketball Writer Aaron Beard contributed to this report.
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