I'm a huge Adrian Autry fan, dating back to his playing days, which came at Syracuse basketball only a few years before I became a student at SU.
It breaks my heart that things didn't work out for Red as the Orange's head coach. While I feel for him, going a combined 49-48 overall in his three seasons leading his alma mater wasn't good enough. Not in the least.
So while I wish Autry well, this change was needed. His assistant coaching staff was also let go on Wednesday, and that's a bummer, too. Red is a classy human being, and in an interview with Syracuse.com, he took full accountability for the Orange's disastrous 2025-26 season, when the 'Cuse went just 15-17 and lost its final six games.
"As a coach, you’re hard on yourself. You didn’t get the job done," Autry said. "That’s the biggest thing that’s heavy, letting people down as far as your coaching staff and all that stuff. And then the players. You tried to push through and come through with what we set out to do."
Trust me, Autry wanted to win. He talked about the financial component in college basketball - direct revenue-sharing and third-party NIL, and how the landscape in collegiate athletics changed.
Former Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry dished on his 'Cuse tenure.
However, Red isn't making excuses. As he said to Syracuse.com: "I want to preface my thoughts by saying it has nothing to do with me not taking the blame of what happened."
Candidly, while the Orange may be around the middle-of-the-pack in the Atlantic Coast Conference as it pertains to its total NIL budget, the 'Cuse 2025-26 roster, on paper, looked promising. Two key returnees. Multiple four-star college transfers and incoming freshmen.
The team, candidly, didn't get it done, both in terms of coaching and the players' performance on the court. It happens. I'm hopeful that the future will be bright for Syracuse basketball, as the new athletics director conducts his search for the program's next head coach.
Moving forward, Autry says that he wants to keep working in basketball in some respect or another. I've opined on more than one occasion that I think Red can be an excellent associate head coach and lead recruiter at the high-major level. Perhaps he could be a head coach at a mid-major program.
He said to Syracuse.com: "I’m gonna stay in. It’s just a matter of me trying to figure out what level, whether I’m gonna stay in college or since it’s a business, go into the real business of basketball."
I'm rooting for you, Red.