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The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program announced the firing of head coach Adrian Autry on Wednesday, and ‘Cuse coaching legend Jim Boeheim says his star players are to blame.
Autry, who played for Boeheim at Syracuse from 1990-1994 and then served as an assistant coach under him from 2011-2023, took over as the head coach in 2024.
He was Boeheim’s hand-picked successor. But things didn’t go according to plan. In his three seasons as the head coach of the Orange, Autry went just 49-48 and failed to make a single NCAA Tournament. This season’s 15-17 record was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the university.
But Boeheim says his friend and former pupil is not to blame.
Jim Boeheim Tosses Syracuse Players Under The Bus To Defend Adrian Autry
Now, it’s not surprising that Boeheim would be sympathetic to Autry’s situation. After all, the two are clearly close, and Autry’s performance as a head coach, in part, reflects on Boeheim’s ability as a teacher.
But Boeheim bent over backward during an appearance on the ACC Network to make sure Autry avoided as much blame as possible.
“I think he’s a good coach,” Boeheim said via ESPN. “I think he got in a situation where his best players just didn’t play the way they needed to play, and it cost him his job.
“His two best players had horrible years,’ he continued. “If you take any team in this league, and you take their two best players and they have really, really bad years, like Cam Boozer and Isaiah Evans have a bad year at Duke, they don’t win.
He then doubled down on those comments in a later interview with Cuse Sports Talk.
“The one thing with Adrian this year — he’s not going to say this, and people will think I shouldn’t say it — his two best players had bad years,” Boeheim said.
“They had bad years on offense. They had bad years on defense. The best two players have to have great years. That didn’t happen. … He got let down by those guys, I think. I think they would say the same thing. I think they’d say, ‘Yeah, we didn’t play well.'”
Boeheim did not name names. But Syracuse’s two top returnees, J.J. Starling and Donnie Freeman, took a step back in 2026.
Now it appears the school could turn to yet another Boeheim disciple in hopes of cleaning up the mess.
Gerry McNamara Is The Favorite To Replace Adrian Autry At Syracuse
Syracuse is expected to do a nationwide search to find its next coach. However, the favorite for the job is current Siena head coach Gerry McNamara
McNamara starred at Syracuse from 2002-2006 under Boeheim, winning a national championship in 2003 and making two first-team All-Big East appearances. His No. 3 was also retired by the program in 2023.
After a brief overseas pro career and several attempts at making the NBA, McNamara returned to Syracuse as a staff member in 2009 and served under Boeheim for 15 years.
McNamara left for Siena after coaching under Autry for one season. After a 14-18 record in his debut season, he led the Saints to a 23-11 record this season and a MAAC Tournament championship, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in the process.
The Orange could end up looking elsewhere for its next head coach. But it certainly seems as if McNamara’s job to lose if he wants it.