Gerry McNamara made his first media appearance since filling out most of the 2026-27 Syracuse Orange basketball roster. In a nearly 40-minute conversation with CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, McNamara shared details on how he and his staff thought about roster construction as well as a potential non-conference game at Madison Square Garden.
With the Syracuse coaching and administrative staff in place and the roster mostly set, McNamara might finally be able to come up for air. That is if he’s not awake at 2:30 am studying film from the Duke-Siena game.
“I’ll never get over it,” McNamara said of Siena’s loss to Duke.
McNamara shared he was having trouble sleeping last week and tuned in to the near upset of the No. 1 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament
“Just to torture myself in the middle of the night for no reason,” McNamara quipped.
In a candid interview, McNamara shared insights on what coaching is like as the head man, how his relationship with Jim Boeheim has evolved and he gave nuggets of information on where Syracuse is at with its roster. He shared how the limitations of coaching and on-court influence (in comparison to a player) can be “torture” and a “helpless feeling.”
“I’ve heard Danny Hurley say he doesn’t even enjoy the wins anymore. He’s just relieved,” McNamara said, “and that’s how you get. You feel like you prepare a certain way, you should expect the result.”
McNamara said his relationship with Boeheim has evolved from coach-player to peer-to-peer and now into a bond of deep friendship. He’ll bring Boeheim’s original desk from Manley Field House into his office in the Melo Center.
That, and more of that conversation chock-full of interesting tidbits below.
On the experience of head coaching outside of Syracuse
“It was important for me. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. It really was. I think for my own personal development, I felt like I needed to take my opportunity. And I was really lucky. It was a great job.”
Proved to himself he can do it, but now try to turn Syracuse around with a build from scratch.
“For me it was so crucial to branch off — not under anyone else’s blanket — and just go do it on my own,” McNamara said.
“Obviously it’s going to be a multi-year build,” McNamara said. “If you look at who we brought in so far this year, multiple guys have multiple years left.”
The NCAA is proposing a rule in which all division one athletes get five years to complete five seasons of eligibility — with the clock starting after high school graduation or turning 19 — with the intent to eliminate waivers for injuries and the like.
“I hope it doesn’t pass this year,” McNamara said. “For obvious reasons.”
McNamara later alluded to how Syracuse has used most of its NIL resources for the upcoming year.
“There could be hundreds more of elite players that they’re just going to throw on the market here in the next few weeks out of nowhere,” McNamara said. “So people like us who filled a roster and kind of used a lot of your NIL money, there’s a lot of fluctuation that’s going to happen.”
Syracuse last played at Madison Square Garden in December of 2021 when it lost to Villanova. Once an annual occurrence for Syracuse fans, the Orange have played elsewhere in recent years with non-conference scheduling becoming more condensed and the Orange brand lacking staying power.
With Kiyan Anthony in tow, McNamara made it known he wants Syracuse to return to the big stage.