With Joshua Schertz and Bryan Hodgson seemingly out of the Syracuse basketball coaching race, a lot of the attention is now on former SU standout Gerry McNamara.

At least for now though, McNamara refuses to engage in reciprocating that attention, electing to focus on his Siena University team. The Saints, who won the MAAC Tournament title, are facing off against top-seeded Duke on Thursday afternoon (2:50 p.m. ET) in the NCAA Tournament's first round.

Siena hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2010.

Per Mark Singelais of the Albany Times-Union. 

Siena coach Gerry McNamara at the podium, where he was asked about the Syracuse job and if they’d reached out. Didn’t answer that, but did say: “These (Siena) kids have given me everything they've got every day this season. They deserve my full attention, they've got it.” 

One of the most decorated players in SU history, McNamara had his No. 3 retired by Syracuse in 2023 after a stellar four-year career that saw him win a national championship in 2003 and earn three All-Big East selections. He was also a two-time All-Big East Tournament team member. 

He scored 2,099 career points and is second all-time in program history in steals. He spent 15 years on the staff before leaving for Siena and many fans want to see him get the job. Some, however, are scared off by the fact that he's an alum and want to see Syracuse try a fresh approach.

While McNamara won't address the Syracuse rumors, we do know that he has other suitors. According to his former coach Jim Boeheim, McNamara has already received interest from both Boston College and Georgia Tech. We've heard that he's already interviewed with BC as well. Both those schools are competitors with Syracuse in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

--In addition to firing head coach Adrian Autry last week, Syracuse fired its entire coaching staff. That means that whoever gets the job will be in charge of finding an all-new staff, as well as a general manager to help on the NIL/recruiting front.

--Syracuse has hired new athletic director Bryan Blair, previously of Toledo. SU grad Mike Tirico was on the search committee that hired Blair and he recently spoke about what made him stand out above the rest of the field. Blair will have a big hand in who the next head coach is.

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