Gerard McNamara, the father of Syracuse Orange men's basketball coach Gerry McNamara, died on Saturday at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer, according to a report from Mike Waters of Syracuse.com. 

He had previously survived cancer twice. 

Gerry McNamara is scheduled to coach the Orange in their season opener on Monday night against New Haven (7 p.m. ET), and Waters reports that he plans to do so. It will be the first game for McNamara since taking over his alma mater this offseason.

Gerard McNamara attended all 135 of Gerry's collegiate games at Syracuse, per Waters, including the national championship game in 2003, the most important game in program history.

A native of Scranton, Pa., McNamara is one of the most important figures in program history. A four-year standout as a player, he helped Syracuse win that national title alongside Hakim Warrick and Carmelo Anthony. He then spent a decade as an assistant coach with the Orange before taking the head coaching job at Siena for two seasons (2024-25 and 2025-26).

He led the Saints to the NCAA Tournament in 2026 and they nearly upended No. 1 Duke in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 64. Gerard McNamara was in attendance at the MAAC title game.

McNamara took over Syracuse this March after Adrian Autry was fired.

McNamara has a tough task in trying to rebuild the program into a national brand, but there is optimism that it can be done. Syracuse hasn't made the NCAA Tournament in the last five years and was picked No. 11 in the ACC Preseason Poll this year.

All that said, McNamara has worked hard to instill a brand of toughness and grit into the program. He scoured the transfer portal to bring in an entire new starting lineup and only has three returners from last year's roster.

He's also done a good job on the traditional recruiting front, inking some big names from the high school level as well.

The Orange kick off the season in the aforementioned contest against New Haven. Our own Tom Goslowski will cover that game and will have live reaction from the JMA Wireless Dome. We will continue our live and in-person coverage all season long and you can engage with our staff by joining our free community, which is on our homepage.