Gerry McNamara talks Syracuse and Siena gigs, tough Duke loss, Jim Boeheim and recruiting

New Syracuse basketball head coach Gerry McNamara says he would have been happy spending his entire head coaching career at Siena, and that probably the only job that he would have left the Saints for this offseason would be to take over the Orange, his alma mater where he won a national title in 2003.

McNamara, in a wide-ranging podcast interview with CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein on Tuesday, said taking the Siena job and having some time away from Syracuse "was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"I was lucky," McNamara says, adding that Siena is a "great job." When he took over the Saints' program two seasons ago, Siena was coming off a four-win campaign. In his first stanza as the team's head coach, the Saints boasted a 10-victory improvement. Then, in 2025-26, Siena went 23-12 overall and made the NCAA Tournament.

While the Saints and the Orange compete in vastly different leagues, it was a complete rebuild at Siena, which McNamara did successfully, and now he's leading his alma mater, which he characterizes as a multi-year build.

That he fared well with the Saints provides ample confidence that McNamara can do the same thing on the Hill, where Syracuse basketball has put forth two straight losing terms and hasn't been to the annual Big Dance since 2021.

Down the stretch of the 2025-26 campaign, Siena was playing excellent basketball on both ends of the floor. The Saints won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ("MAAC") Tournament to land a No. 16 seed in March Madness.

Syracuse basketball head coach Gerry McNamara reflects on a variety of topics.

In the first round of the East Region, Siena faced No. 1 overall seed Duke, and the Saints put a huge scare into the Blue Devils. Despite having a depleted line-up, Siena led Duke by 11 points at the half, but the Blue Devils would mount a comeback and prevail, 71-65.

McNamara told Rothstein that he'll "never get over" the heartbreaking loss to Duke. He says he watched the game a few nights ago and couldn't sleep after that. At the same time, McNamara was extremely proud of his Siena players for their fight against a powerhouse blue-blood program. "As a competitor, I wanted it for those kids," he says.

As the process moved forward and it looked like McNamara was going to possibly get the Orange head coaching position, he said it was quite difficult to ultimately say goodbye to the Saints. "I loved it at Siena."

Nevada Smith, most recently an assistant coach at Big East Conference school Marquette, is the Saints' new head coach. McNamara says he's confident that Smith will continue to take Siena on an upward trajectory.

After McNamara was offered and accepted the SU head coaching job, he said it was "pretty surreal" telling his parents, because they've been with him every step of the way, and this spring marks the 20-year anniversary of when GMac's Syracuse basketball playing career culminated (I feel old).

Rothstein, understandably, asked McNamara about his relationship with the legendary Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, who was McNamara's head coach as a player and also when GMac served on Boeheim's staff as an assistant coach.

McNamara says he learned from Boeheim, who is No. 2 on the career wins list as a head coach in Division I men's hoops, the importance of being consistent, the importance of being present in the greater community, and the importance of winning at all costs (among other things).

As a player, McNamara says his relationship with Boeheim was as a point guard and a coach. When McNamara became an assistant coach on Boeheim's staff, the relationship evolved into colleagues, and these days, McNamara characterizes his bond with Boeheim as a "deep friendship."

Oh, this is neat. McNamara says he took Boeheim's original desk from the old Manley Field House and is using it as his desk in his office while serving as Syracuse basketball's head coach. Kind of a full-circle life moment, I'd say.

Since McNamara and his assistants are busy constructing their 2026-27 roster, a lot of Orange fans are curious about the Orange's recruiting efforts, both in the short term and further out.

McNamara says that the 'Cuse will, of course, stick to its recruiting roots along the Northeast corridor, but the landscape is so different these days due to the transfer portal, rev-share and third-party NIL deals.

To that end, McNamara says he'll be able to branch out a little bit, so to speak, and look at international prospects, as well as high school and college transfers who may hail from other parts of the country that aren't traditionally recruiting hotbeds for SU.

With the financial resources available today, McNamara and Syracuse basketball can pursue "talent they may not normally go after."

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