STILL HERE: Gerry McNamara has remained consistent through promotion to associate head coach
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drian Autry sat in his office, looking down at the crowd for his introductory press conference as the new head coach of Syracuse men’s basketball. Autry was surrounded by his family and cameras, citing the nerves he felt.
On a day where he encountered players and coaches from his past and future, Autry received one more visitor in his new office: Gerry McNamara.
Autry, dressed up in a black suit and orange tie, was excited and timid for his introduction. The former SU point guard-turned-assistant coach wore a blue Syracuse quarter zip and sat calmly with a smile, seemingly without a care in the world.
“You’re gonna get emotional on me?” McNamara asked the new head coach.
As an assistant coach, McNamara never wanted to get too high or too low, remaining at the same level of calm. He’s kept the same mentality in his first year as Syracuse’s associate head coach, the role Autry held from 2016 until his promotion. It’s been a natural progression for McNamara, but anyone surrounding Syracuse basketball can tell you that McNamara has remained the same in all facets, especially when it comes to improving the play of his guards.
Take starting guard J.J. Starling, who had up-and-down stretches through his first 19 games with Syracuse. While Starling shot 44% from the field, he converted at just 29% from beyond the arc. There were points of the season where he impressed, like when he scored 22 points against Miami. But he’s also struggled, like in the season opener against New Hampshire, shooting 3-of-13.
At the end of January, Starling had another shaky performance, shooting 4-of-14 and scoring just 10 points in a blowout home loss to Florida State. But on the Saturday afternoon leading up to an evening matchup versus NC State, Starling was in the gym working with McNamara.
“I’m in the gym all the time with Coach G,” Starling said in the postgame press conference. “He’s just making sure my mechanics are right, just making sure I have the right confidence.”
Kyle Cuffe Jr. also practices with McNamara on his shotmaking, chirping him as he fires toward the net. Autry noted that for every player on the roster, McNamara can pinpoint how to coach them up to be better. But aside from actual mechanics, there was one phrase that McNamara repeated over and over to Cuffe Jr.
“He’ll come and talk to me and be like, ‘Come on now. Come on now. Come on now,’” Cuffe Jr. said.
Cuffe Jr. and Starling both mentioned how working with McNamara keeps their confidence up. Justin Taylor, who has struggled this season with just 5.2 points per game and a 35.7% field goal percentage, said that McNamara understands the struggles. They’ve all been Syracuse basketball players.
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On Jan. 20, 2004, McNamara was in pain during a game against Seton Hall. Initially, he thought it was a groin pull, but an end-of-season MRI revealed it was a stress fracture in his pelvic bone. As he played on, McNamara led Syracuse to the Sweet 16. Though he had moments of brilliance while hurt, he often struggled. He scored just eight points against Pittsburgh in the game following the injury.
With his experiences, McNamara is empathetic to the current batch of SU players, many of whom have struggled with injuries this season.
“We all go through our ups and downs,” Taylor said on Feb. 24. “And he’s a guy that was a legend here and I’m able to talk to him about anything in the world.”
Right as Taylor said this in the locker room, McNamara, with a big smile, walked up behind him and gave the maligned guard a big pat on the back.
But to McNamara’s superior, it’s par for the course. When the two coached under Jim Boeheim, both felt free to speak their minds during meetings. In a similar vein, McNamara speaks freely to the Orange’s guards and shooters.
McNamara has told Chris Bell, who leads Syracuse in 3-pointers, that he doesn’t like it when the forward doesn’t shoot from deep, saying open looks may prove hard to come by. In SU’s 82-76 win over Louisville, Bell said he received subtle gestures from McNamara, like a pat on the back or even a facial expression, to know that he should be shooting a 3.
In the second half against the Cardinals, Bell swerved at the left wing and buried a step-back 3-pointer to put the Orange up by 19. While Syracuse’s bench celebrated, McNamara stayed in his seat and just looked back at Bell and his teammates as they ran back on defense. Autry said McNamara’s ability to build confidence in his players comes through having those moments during games and simply spending time around them.
Former Syracuse men’s basketball player Gerry McNamara has risen in the program’s coaching ranks from an
assistant to SU’s associate head coach. Nick Luttrell | Staff Photographer
“I think all great coaching (is) when you have your players complimenting you during the season or in anything that is positive is because they spent time together. And I think that’s what we do better than any staff,” Autry said. “We spend a lot of time with our guys. Being in the gym, being able to have that conversation. I think that that’s huge and Gerry is one of the best at it.”
Former Syracuse center John Bol Ajak said McNamara has earned the respect of players throughout his time at SU, but also when he played against the team managers. Ajak said to look at McNamara’s ankles. Both have been broken before — Ajak said the assistant coach’s ankles are “done.” But he still chirped and would bring it to the managers with the bottom of his feet wrapped up in tape.
“If you see G-Mac and say, ‘Let me see your ankles,’ you will never see any type of softness in him,” Ajak said.
When the two met, Ajak said McNamara was at a “normal level.” Ajak expanded, stating that during games, McNamara changed his demeanor depending on his players’ moods. If they were downtrodden, the associate head coach had more energy. When it was the opposite, McNamara remained calm.
With the promotion to associate head coach, McNamara continues to stay the same in every aspect of coaching. He always wants to beat a cool level, including in his pregame entrance.
Before Autry enters the JMA Wireless Dome with an accompanying hype video, McNamara and his fellow assistant coaches — Allen Griffin and Brenden Straughn — walk out to smaller fanfare. But before he walked out in the Orange’s second-to-last home game of the season against Notre Dame, he fist-bumped both of the security guards who opened the path to the floor.
One of the guards, who chose to remain anonymous, smiled when asked how often McNamara does this. It happens every game.
“It’s his thing.”
Photograph taken by Nick Luttrell | Staff Photographer