On Tuesday, Syracuse made it official, hiring Gerry McNamara as the school's head men's basketball coach. He'll be tasked with helping rebuild a program that hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in five years.

After SU fired Adrian Autry following this season's 15-17 record, we heard of six candidates that Syracuse was targeting for the position. Three of those candidates have now figured out the next steps in their careers.

St. Louis head coach Josh Schertz agreed to a contract extension with the school. Bryan Hodgson left South Florida and agreed to to become the next head coach of the Providence Friars.

As mentioned above, McNamara has left Siena to join his alma mater. Merrimack's Joe Gallo has yet to decide what he's going to do.

Gallo has been mentioned as a candidate at Boston College for their vacancy. They were also interested in McNamara. 

UConn's Luke Murray is helping his team prep for its Sweet 16 game Friday night against Michigan State. That leaves just one candidate unaccounted for: Former Syracuse basketball player and assistant head coach for the Orange from 1995-2017: Mike Hopkins

According to Albany Times Union sports writer Mark Singelais, Hopkins is one of the six potential candidate for the Siena head coaching job to replace McNamara. Singelais had the following on social media:

"If Siena wants to go the Syracuse alumni route for a second straight hire, the Saints could look at Hopkins, 56, who played for the Orange from 1989 to 1993 and served as a Jim Boeheim assistant from 1995 to 2017. He got his first head-coaching chance at Washington from 2017 to 2024. He went 118-106 with one NCAA Tournament appearance before being fired. He has shown the ability to recruit New York and could see Siena as another shot at college head coaching."

After coaching in three different decades with Syracuse, Hopkins left Central New York to accept the head coaching job with the Washington Huskies. Despite being dismissed in 2024, Hopkins was named Pac-12 Coach of The Year twice during his tenure with the team. Since departing from Washington, Hopkins has worked with the Phoenix Suns as an assistant head coach and is currently with the New Orleans Pelicans as an assistant and head of player development. 

If Hopkins were to become the head coach of the Saints, it would mark the third time in less than 30 years that a former Orange player would lead Siena. McNamara most recently served as the head coach, helping lead the group to the MAAC championship in 2026.

In 2000, Louis Orr was named the head coach of the Saints. In his lone season coaching Siena, Orr was 20-11, at that time the best record for any first-year head coach in program history. Orr accepted a job to coach Seton Hall in 2001 where he spent the next five seasons.

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