Around the country hoops season 2023....

[cwdickens]

17 hours ago, Clickclack said:

Killings sucks but his being gone has nothing to do specifically with Killings gone but that they changed entire direction with respect to coaching staff. You continuing to beat this moronic drum is one of the dumbest things on this board. They hired Shaka, that's what led to the change not DK taking UA after the previous coach got fired. 

You point maybe would make some sense if Steve Wojciechowski was still the HC and only Killing left. 

Enough already with this completely idiotic point. And I don't even like Kilings. It's like saying Carm was fired at Siena because I bought a bucket of KFC for dinner. The two events are completely unrelated. 

 

If you read my comment, I tried Marquette improvement to the change of head coach...

Edited March 21 by cwdickens

[cwdickens]

Do you ever see Doctor Havidan Rodriquez making the decision to fire our MBB coach as the Siena President did in order to give the Siena AD cover?  I do not, in particular after the decision to keep Killings two years ago.

Siena basketball coach out after team’s worst season

 

By Michael Kelly and Mark Singelais

Jim Franco/Times Union archive

Siena under Carmen Maciariello lost 34 of 38 games dating to last season. The Saints had the worst record in the MAAC this season after the league’s coaches picked them to finish fourth.

ALBANY — Siena men’s basketball coach Carmen Maciariello began his head-coaching career by leading his alma mater to back-to-back Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season titles. But he paid the price for the worst single-season record in the program’s 86-year history.

Maciariello was fired Wednesday morning, one week after the Saints’ 4-28 season concluded with an early-morning loss to Niagara on March 13 in the first round of the MAAC Tournament in Atlantic City, N.J.

 

“I’ll be a better coach and a better leader because of this,” Maciariello said. “Obviously, this year was an abysmal year, and I’m paying for it with my job.”

Maciariello, a Shenendehowa graduate, finished with a 68-72 record over the course of five seasons. He had two years remaining on his contract. Siena said it will immediately begin a national search for a new coach.

Maciariello, 45, said he was called into a meeting with athletic director John D’Argenio, who told him the decision was made by college president Charles F. “Chuck” Seifert. D’Argenio said it was a collaborative decision.

Maciariello says he was told his firing “was a business decision to make sure the fan base was energized.”

“To be honest, I really thought I was going to be given the opportunity to right the ship, especially with the landscape of college athletics,” Maciariello said. “We had a plan to go forward with 2024-25.

“It’s unfortunate, and it’s on me for how we did things with the roster this year. We didn’t win enough,” added Maciariello, who is married with three young children. “It’s hard, but I don’t have any regrets. I’ve always led with positivity, energy and doing things the right way.”

Maciariello lost 34 of his last 38 games dating to last season. Siena entered this season with fairly high hopes, and had been picked to finish fourth in the MAAC. But the Saints lost 10 games by 20 or more points, and 19 by 10 or more.

Maciariello had received a vote of confidence from D’Argenio in February. Maciariello at the time expressed confidence he would return (“Why would I not be back?”) before the home finale.

“The calendar changes,” D’Argenio said during a campus media availability. “We probably ran out of time. We’re sitting here a month ago, eight weeks ago, thinking is there a possibility to continue to improve and turn this around and we weren’t able to do that.”

D’Argenio said Maciariello’s contract was not an impediment in making a change. D’Argenio declined to say if there was a buyout. Maciariello made $362,450 in reportable compensation in 2021-22, the most recent figure available.

“I thank him for everything he put into the program and the early success we had, the great conduct of our players,” D’Argenio said. “That’s important to us. At the same time, so is the future of the program and what it means to the college and what it means to the Capital Region. So for us to be successful, it’s important to those two entities and we take that seriously and now we begin the phase of working ourselves back to where we were a couple of years ago, and that’s competing for a MAAC championship. I’m sure we’ll be able to do that.”

Through a spokesman, Seifert thanked Maciariello for his “service and dedication” to the college.

“Our search for new leadership marks the first step on a renewed journey towards excellence, aiming to honor our proud legacy and to amplify Siena College’s brand and reputation,” Seifert said. “To the Siena family and all our supporters, I assure you: our best days are ahead.”

Siena promoted Maciariello from assistant to head coach when Jamion Christian left after one season to become head coach at George Washington in 2019.

In his first season, the Saints took a 10-game winning streak into the 2020 MAAC Tournament before it and the NCAA Tournament were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the Saints lost several good players into the NCAA transfer portal: guards Jalen Pickett (Penn State), Javian McCollum (Oklahoma), Jordan King (East Tennessee State, Richmond) and Colby Rogers (Wichita State) among them.

Nevertheless, Siena was only a half-game out of first place in February 2023 before the program began its precipitous decline. The Saints lost their final six games of the 2022-23 season, which D’Argenio said also factored into the decision.

Siena’s top two scorers, guards Sean Durugordon and Michael Eley, missed playing time because of injuries. Durugordon, an Austin Peay transfer, also sat out the first 10 games because of NCAA ineligibility. Even when they played together, the Saints never showed much chemistry on the court. Eley entered the portal on Monday.

Due to injuries, Siena started two non-scholarship players, guards Mason Courtney and Kyle Winters, and another former walk-on, forward Brendan Coyle, by the end of the season.

Maciariello was 1-4 in MAAC Tournament games. His lone victory came in a 2020 quarterfinal over Manhattan before the tournament cancellation.

A 1996 Shenendehowa graduate, Maciariello started his college playing career at New Hampshire before finishing up at Siena. He played four seasons of professional basketball in Italy.

Maciariello’s college coaching career started as a director of basketball operations at Siena for then-head coach Fran McCaffery during the 2005-06 season, which was McCaffery’s first in Loudonville. In between his coaching stints at Siena, Maciariello served as an assistant coach for Fairfield, Providence, Boston University, George Washington in stops that combined for a decade.

When he was hired in 2019, the then-40-year-old was the first Siena alumnus since Bill Kirsch to hold the position of men’s basketball head coach at the school. Kirsch coached Siena from 1972 to 1982, and was the program’s first coach during its Division I years.

[bob87]

I am confident LCC can find another coach to lose 24 or more games in a season.

But enough about them. James Jones,  ualbany '86 and yale won an exciting game in the ncaa tournament today 

Edited March 23 by bob87

[UAalum72]

‘Aints WBB coach Jabir has retired. His wife got a job at Stanford 

[cwdickens]

57 minutes ago, UAalum72 said:

‘Aints WBB coach Jabir has retired. His wife got a job at Stanford 

Well, their Athletic Director, John D's life, takes another step in the wrong direction.  Based on published reports, the Siena President is leading the search for a new MBB coach, which is absolutely a no vote of confidence in your Athletic Director.  If you cannot trust your Athletic Director with MBB position, can you trust him with the WBB head Coaching position. Not likely, is John on his way out?

Interesting, no news release, however an Instagram posting.

Edited March 27 by cwdickens

[cwdickens]

So Siena is looking for a MBB Coach, WBB Coach, an Associate Athletic Director for women sports, a MBB team and WBB team and their MBB Coach search has down the rabbit hole and has come up empty.

Is this the reason why Dwyane Killings is still with us,

From Roger Wyland's comments:

Rodger’s Quick Take Siena doesn’t land Gerry McNamara unless it agrees to pay him more than any other Siena head coach has made and unless there is enough NIL money in the tank so McNamara can reshape a depleted roster. McNamara can recruit good players, but does Siena have enough money to pay them? I like the hire on paper but the longtime Syracuse assistant will have his work cut out for him going into next season. Rodger Wyland is the sports director for News Channel 13. Listen to

[jimbo]

Roger says it’s official so we will see…..GMAC at SC. Singleais says not so fast. We will wait.  

[UAalum72]

Wyland has also been mentioning Will Brown as the possible new $iena women's coach

[cwdickens]

22 minutes ago, UAalum72 said:

Wyland has also been mentioning Will Brown as the possible new $iena women's coach

Roger has been dropping Will's name frequently.  Even as WBB HC, I feel that the $iena fans would have issue for his UAlbany past.  

[jimbo]

1 hour ago, cwdickens said:

Roger has been dropping Will's name frequently.  Even as WBB HC, I feel that the $iena fans would have issue for his UAlbany past.  

I think if it was MBB they’d have a fit. He’s a fairly logical choice for WBB in my mind…so perhaps it will happen. I doubt they’d get all weepy if he produces a winner. 

[cwdickens]

The times -Union reporting that $iena College has announced the hiring of Syracuse Associate HC Gerry McNamara for the MBB Head Coach position.  

This is the second time $iena has hired a Syracuse MBB player for their HC position, as I recall Louis Orr stayed one year before leaving for another HC position elsewhere.  I am certain Gerry, while my sign a 4- or 5-year deal, is hoping to get out of Loudonville sooner.

[bob87]

2 hours ago, cwdickens said:

The times -Union reporting that $iena College has announced the hiring of Syracuse Associate HC Gerry McNamara for the MBB Head Coach position.  

This is the second time $iena has hired a Syracuse MBB player for their HC position, as I recall Louis Orr stayed one year before leaving for another HC position elsewhere.  I am certain Gerry, while my sign a 4- or 5-year deal, is hoping to get out of Loudonville sooner.

Yeah. I would be surprised if I were to read that he bought a house there rather than renting 😀

[cwdickens]

From today's Times Union:

BY MARK SINGELAIS ALBANY — Gerry McNamara won a national championship as a player and reached two Final Fours as an assistant coach during his two decades as a Syracuse basketball icon.

That winning habit is one McNamara doesn’t intend to change as he moves 150 miles down the Thruway and one seat over on the bench for his first head-coaching job at Siena.

“You know why I’m here,” McNamara said Tuesday at his introductory news conference at MVP Arena. “Anyone that knows me, knows why I’m here. I’m here to win. Simple. That’s who I am. I am here to win. That’s all I’ve ever tried to do as a coach, a player. Every day I walk in the gym, it’s with the intent to work to win.”

McNamara, 40, acknowledged that will take some effort after Siena went 4-28 this season, the worst record in program history, leading to the firing of head coach Carmen Maciariello after five seasons. Siena had 10 players go into the transfer portal and had four scholarship players left on its roster as of Tuesday.

“We’ve got to do a lot of work,” he said. “Obviously, with the transfer portal, you know how it works. We’re down a number of guys. But at the same time, so are a lot of teams in this league (the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). You look around, a lot of teams have guys jumping in the portal and transferring. If you do the right thing in recruiting and get the right guys, you have the chance to be good really fast.”

Siena zeroed in on McNamara quickly. He visited the Capital Region March 24 and interviewed with Siena president Chuck Seifert and athletic director John D’Argenio at D’Argenio’s home. D’Argenio said McNamara was the only candidate Siena spoke to directly. They finalized the deal on Friday. Terms of the contract weren’t disclosed.

“One word to describe Gerry would be authentic,” Seifert said. “Just his authenticity and his commitment and dedication to developing the people, not just the player.” McNamara said he pursued only two head-coaching openings in his 15 seasons as a Syracuse assistant. Both were Siena, the first time in 2018 before the Saints hired Jamion Christian. “There are so many aligning factors in terms of how similar the programs are,”

McNamara said. “I chose Syracuse because of all those family aspects, the community, the support the program has… This is a great job, one I think is as good as any job in our area.” McNamara was promoted last year from Syracuse assistant to associate head coach when Adrian Autry succeeded Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim as head coach. “A lot more years of coaching, a lot more years of style,” McNamara said. “Title bump, more responsibility. The biggest thing is, someone once told me, if you’re not learning in this, you’re dying. Every year, you’ve got to get better. That’s something I’ve lived by.” He said raising four children has helped him become a better communicator. His wife, Katie, and four children, Gerry, Patrick, Maggie and Grace, attended Tuesday’s news conference. His parents, Gerard and Joyce, came up from their home in Scranton, Pa.

He said he learned about being a first-year head coach by watching Autry, who went 20-12 in his debut this season. “It’s my first year as a head coach, so that’s probably the most pressure for me, is just trusting myself in the process, having people around me that I trust and trying, like I did for Coach Autry, to be there for him when he needed me,” McNamara said. “I think there’s an adjustment for everybody.” Fran McCaffery, who guided Siena to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2008 to 2010, had been a head coach twice before. Paul Hewitt, who reached the 1999 NCAA Tournament and 2000 NIT, was a first-time head coach. D’Argenio said there were a few reasons Siena quickly identified McNamara as the man to lead the program back to contention. “His basketball pedigree, the fact that he’s progressed through the business,” D’Argenio said. “He’s learned every step of the way.”

McNamara became emotional during his opening statement talking about leaving Syracuse, where he has spent half of his life. “I’ve got a lot of Cuse gear,” he said. “A lot of it. The greatest thing is, it’s always going to be my alma mater.” But on Tuesday, he wore a green tie and a Siena lapel pin while he sat in the atrium of MVP Arena, the same building where he helped Syracuse win an East Regional title on its way to a national championship in 2003. “Scary how quickly it goes by,” McNamara said. “But it’s kind of neat my first opportunity as a head coach is in the building that we played in to go to a Final Four and win a national championship. It’s really unique and I’m just blessed.”

Note: Before Tuesday’s news conference to introduce McNamara, he got a commitment from his first recruit. Former Butler and Hofstra forward Myles Wilmoth, who is 6-foot-9 and 215 pounds, announced on X he committed to the Saints for next season. Wilmoth, from the village of Chestnut Ridge in Rockland County, played three seasons for Butler of the Big East from 2020 to 2023. He appeared in 59 games, all off the bench, and averaged 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds. He transferred to Hofstra of the Coastal Athletic Association but didn’t play in any games this season

[jimbo]

I wish him luck and nothing but the best. It’s so much more fun when both area teams are doing well and the rivalry prospers. And quite honestly, before UA went D1 I’d always root for $iena to do well, despite the ancient rivalry! 
 

now…..how about turning around the train wreck at Broadview?

[bob87]

13 hours ago, jimbo said:

I wish him luck and nothing but the best. It’s so much more fun when both area teams are doing well and the rivalry prospers. And quite honestly, before UA went D1 I’d always root for $iena to do well, despite the ancient rivalry! 
 

now…..how about turning around the train wreck at Broadview?

On your First paragraph,  we will agree to disagree.  I Never root for them, and never will.