If you and your buddies have been arguing about what direction the Syracuse men's basketball program should take, you're not alone. 

It turns out those same passionate debates about Gerry McNamara and Mike Hopkins have been happening inside the buildings on campus as well.

Per Matt Norlander of CBS, who dropped this nugget after reports surfaced that Syracuse is set to hire McNamara as its replacement for the now-fired Adrian Autry.

McNamara winning out comes after weeks of debate amongst big money players at Syracuse, per Norlander's sources, who said there was a faction of boosters that were adamant about hiring outside the Syracuse/Jim Boeheim tree.

The main reason? Because Syracuse hasn't won at the level that people want. The Orange haven't been to the NCAA Tournament in five years and they haven't been to the Final Four in a decade. The program has lost the label of a national power and has fallen into mediocrity.

As a result, fans and boosters figure something has to change in order to get the desired results. 

Even though McNamara is not Boeheim - or Autry - he's viewed as an extension of their way of thinking. Boeheim spent 47 years as the head coach at Syracuse. He developed an identity and a way of doing things. He coached McNamara for four years as a player and McNamara spent more than a decade on his staff as an assistant.

While McNamara is certainly his own person, people assume that Boeheim's influence is present in him. If it didn't work with Autry, then people are hesitant to give McNamara a chance.

McNamara just might be the best candidate for the job and holding his prior relationships against him is a poor way of thinking.

McNamara checks all the boxes that the program could want.

He's been a head coach before and he's won before. He's turned around a program before and he's built a culture before. He's won at a school with fewer resources and has gotten his teams to buy into playing hard all the time - something that was sorely lacking from this year's version of the Orange.

Furthermore, people need to stop looking at his SU affiliation as a detriment and start looking at it as a strength. He can connect alumni, reach donors and reach fans. Autry had those abilities too, but as a beloved figure who has his number retired by the program? The reach is just different for McNamara.

The hire is expected to be finalized on Monday or Tuesday.

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