GMac appears to have brought on board two assistants - and they're not from Siena

Gerry McNamara, the new Syracuse basketball head coach, hinted recently that his assistant staff would be rolled out soon.

While, as of this writing, no official word has come from the team or SU Athletics, multiple reports on Thursday noted two new assistant coaches for GMac, who was officially introduced as the Orange's next head coach this past Monday.

One is VCU assistant coach Ryan Daly, and the second is Penn State associate head coach Jamal Brunt.

Ever since word came out that McNamara would be the next Syracuse basketball head coach, replacing Adrian Autry (who is headed to Virginia as an assistant coach), fans have assumed that GMac would bring several assistants from his prior school, Siena.

That could still happen, of course. Former Orange players Ryan Blackwell and Arinze Onuaku were on McNamara's staff with the Saints during the recently completed 2025-26 season.

Syracuse basketball head coach Gerry McNamara is filling out his assistant staff, including a general manager.

Brunt, who is from Baltimore, a key recruiting market for the 'Cuse, is in his third season as the associate head coach at Big Ten Conference school Penn State. In 2025-26, the Nittany Lions struggled, going just 12-20 overall.

Over the past 20-plus years, Brunt has served as an assistant coach at Randolph-Macon, Richmond, Miami, VCU and then Penn State. With the Hurricanes, a fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school, he helped reel in some stellar recruiting classes, including one that featured former Syracuse basketball recruiting target Lonnie Walker, who was an All-American in high school and now plays professionally.

Daly joined VCU as an assistant coach in April of 2025. In the most recent campaign, the Rams went 28-8 overall and captured a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season title as well as the conference's post-season tournament crown. VCU reached the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

He's from the Philadelphia area, which is another big recruiting market for Syracuse basketball. Before heading to the Rams, Daly served as an assistant coach at Bryant and Albany. According to his bio on the VCU athletics department Web site, when he was an assistant at Albany from 2022 to 2024, the Great Danes boasted a fairly potent offense.

I'll continue to provide updates on other staff updates that GMac makes in the coming days.