LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. — Gerry McNamara spent nearly 20 years in Syracuse as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach, associate head coach for the Orange, and more importantly (as he’ll say) raising a family. The biggest adjustment since moving to Loudonville to take up the mantle as new head coach of the Siena men’s basketball program, however?
Starting all over again.
“Staff continuity has been the hardest part for me. Anybody that knows me, knows I want to be on the court, working with the team, working with a group, and right now, with roster retention, and a move where you’ve got to get four other people settled behind you, that’s been the most difficult thing for me,” the 40-year-old McNamara said in an interview, Tuesday, with the Troy Record and Saratogian.
“I want to be on the court. I want to be with my team and right now, I don’t have a full team and I don’t have my staff. So, that’s what I’m really, really looking forward to, is when I’m finally stabilized here, in terms of, my staff is with me and we’re working regularly, on a day-to-day basis with a team that’s just…I can’t even tell you how excited I am for that process.”
It’s been a whirlwind seven-day stretch for McNamara, starting with having first to clean out his old office in Syracuse. Since then, outgoing phone calls for staff and player recruiting and incoming, congratulatory calls haven’t stopped.
The first-time head coach is also making other adjustments to his new life.
“It’s like coming to college for the first time as a student-athlete. Time management is everything and you learn that as you go throughout life. I’ve had a family so I’ve kind of mapped out my days over the years, in terms of what’s important and what’s immediately necessary,” McNamara said.
“I’ve taken the mornings, early in the morning, 6:30-7 o’clock in the morning to kind of get back to the previous day’s logjam of phone calls, or text messages, and then throughout the day, I’m trying to focus on the immediate need of the recruiting aspect of the job and that takes precedent right now especially because the most important thing moving forward is getting the players you want to come in here and move the program forward,” McNamara explained.
Yet for McNamara, there’s a balance between ingratiating himself to the new campus and surrounding community and the pursuit of bringing new people into it. That, however, he said has been no problem thus far and shouldn’t be going forward into the offseason.
“I think it kind of happens naturally, in terms of within the first few hours. I was in my office and so many people came in and either reintroduced themselves from last week or talked about certain things inside the building and how the office operates,” McNamara said. “So, as time goes on and I’m out into the community and getting to know people, that happens organically and the recruiting happens within every conversation of all that happening. It never stops, it’s just kind of a revolving thing and what I learned at Syracuse, and it’s already taken place here and it’s why I came here, is- great people and people that believe in this place.”
“That gives me an infectious energy to go out and sell to the people that I want to be a part of it. This place is great and that’s pretty evident from the time that I stepped foot on campus here. This is a very unique place that holds a lot of the same attributes and qualities of a place that I left, which is [an] incredible community, incredible support, and people that have come through here, love it.”
McNamara couldn’t discuss specifics of incoming assistant coaches or players. Siena has already received a commitment from 6”9’ two-time transfer forward Myles Wilmouth, from Hofstra and Butler, and rumors have circulated of assistants such as former Washington Huskies assistant and Union College guard and others. However, the seasoned recruiter from Syracuse did share some insight into his pitch:
“You’ve got a multitude of factors when you’re talking about recruiting. Some of them are previously existing relationships, where you might be re-recruiting somebody that you’ve already recruited, out of the portal. Some of them are new relationships, which sometimes are very exciting, when you click with somebody, in terms of energy level. But, the message is the same that this is a great place and there’s great opportunity here, coming off of a season that was, kind of, an outlier here.
“The nature of the business and industry we’re in now is you can get the players you need immediately to change something really quickly and within that, there’s opportunity for guys that are looking for a bigger role, or a new situation and a rejuvenation. So, I think that’s the sell of this place, is you have all the support you need, it’s proven in the past that it can be really, really great, now, you’ve got a coach who has the energy to do it, is coming from a great place, has worked with some terrific players that all of them, I think, appreciated the time that I was able to spend with them and how much I gave to them.”
Having a playing-career resume, headlined by a 2003 National Championship and Syracuse program records such as three-pointers made, for both a season and career and minutes played, helps the process of filling the roster McNamara. The new head coach isn’t resting on those laurels, rather, letting a different body of work speak for itself — in his 15 seasons spent as an assistant.
“I’d say it’s difficult for anybody that I recruit to not look at: ‘playing career.’ The playing career speaks for itself; that happened. What I try to do, is focus more on educating them on my coaching career, which is, ‘Hey, this was really, really good too. All these different players and multiple Final Fours and a number of Sweet Sixteen’s and Elite Eight’s. Like, I was a part of a lot of wins and a lot of great moments,’” McNamara said.
“Everybody can go on YouTube and watch a highlight. I’m more interested in educating them on the process that I’ve gone on as a coach because that’s the most relevant thing in, terms of me moving forward in my career. I’ve taken this as equally seriously and worked as hard in my coaching career as I did to give you the opportunity to watch my non-high-definition highlights on YouTube.”
As for the five student-athletes that remain from last season’s roster that went 4-28 under previous head coach Carmen Maciariello, McNamara had said at his introductory presser last week that meetings with them still had yet to happen. As of this Tuesday, those meetings have occurred but will stay inside the walls of McNamara’s new office.
“I’ll keep that private. I’ve obviously had conversations with guys within the program. Me being in the office is a little bit easier to talk to these guys, face-to-face, man-to-man and I think that’s a conversation that stays between coach and student-athlete,” he said. “I still respect that privacy and I guess I’ll kind of just leave it at that, in terms of- these guys deserve the respect and opportunity, to do things the way they want to and hear me out in terms of my vision and which direction I see the program going.”
McNamara isn’t the only new head coach being brought into the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men’s basketball fold this season and not even the only one from his previous conference- the Atlantic Coast Conference.
It was announced Monday, April 8, that Canisius, after letting go of previous head coach Reggis Witherspoon in mid-March, would be bringing on former Boston College head coach from 2014-2021, Jim Christian.
McNamara had also faced Christian in a player-coach matchup, in 2005 when Christian was head coach of the Kent State Golden Flashes. McNamara and Syracuse won that contest at the Carrier Dome, 78-66, despite the guard going just 3-13 from the field (2-9 3PT), with 10 points, as he poured in 12 assists.
Next season, while still a ways away in an already busy offseason, the two will go head to head on the sideline, as new head coaches.
“It’s funny when you’re a player, you don’t really focus on the head coaches, you focus on the other players and then when you’re a coach, you’re looking at who the opposing head coach has. I had great respect for Coach (Christian) when he was in the ACC, at Boston College and some of the players that he was able to bring in there, especially the guards that he brought in, who ended up becoming the pros, and some of the actions he ran and how detailed he was,” McNamara said.
“So, I’m just happy for him and all my interactions with him over the years, he just came across like such a nice guy. I’ve always appreciated that and in this business, that can be somewhat ruthless, in terms of behind the scenes, he just always seemed like such a genuine person. So, I’m really happy for him. I’m happy for him to join the league. I think it’s a good thing for the league, when you have great coaches in it, and I think he’s a very, very good coach.”
