After Gerry McNamara's return to Syracuse, how about a sellout for his first game?

It was a day to take a brief look at the past greatness of one of the program's all-time best players, but mostly it was a day to look at a rosy Orange future, a coronation of sorts for Syracuse basketball Monday afternoon at Miron Victory Court.

A standing room only crowd of some 3,000 turned out to hear Gerry McNamara lay out clearly what all of those that showed up came to hear: Syracuse basketball will be relevant again, and quickly, beginning this upcoming season.

McNamara loves the rapid hiring of his new bosses and sudden return to his beloved alma mater

The uniqueness of McNamara as SU's next head coach is that his reach extends from incoming chancellor Mike Haynie some 20 years ago, right up to his new, only weeks-old relationship with incoming athletics director Bryan Blair.

Haynie chronicled the story Monday of watching McNamara play for the first time on December 30, 2005 as a new faculty member, GMac's senior season, a game in which the 'Cuse toppled Kent State 78-66.

But what left an indelible impression on Haynie was the Dome crowd of 20,514 who showed up on a Friday night the day before New Year's Eve to root on SU, a trend he thinks will reappear once next season gets underway.

"That (crowd size) was really my first lesson in what it means to be 'Orange'," Haynie said Monday. "Which is why it means so much to me, and I think this community, that one of the people that taught me that lesson that night, is back where he belongs in Orange (with his family)."

McNamara could not have been more enthusiastic in describing his initial meetings with Blair, a next-generation administrator and leader, especially on the heels of his close working relationship with outgoing AD John Wildhack since 2016.

"Let me tell you something about Bryan," McNamara told his rabid following Monday. "He's a competitor."

"Second time we had a conversation was in-person. Bryan asked (me) the same simple question. He said, 'Coach, do you have any questions for me?' I said matter of fact, I do. 'What are you looking for in a head coach?'

"And this is when I truly saw him," McNamara continued. "With conviction, he looked me in the eyes and said, 'I want to win. No matter what, I want to win.'

"I said, now you're speaking my language," as the room burst out in laughter.

Pushing all the right buttons

GMac was in control of the partisan faithful overflowing the room Monday, sharing personal antidotes about the tough times and family support upon leaving his beloved Orange for a shot at running his own show at Siena before his head coaching window grew tighter, to his promise of restoring the Orange basketball brand to its rightful place among the nation's elite programs, and a regular return to the NCAA Tournament.

Later, at his first session with reporters in the Dome's basketball media room, McNamara hinted about the makeup of his first coaching staff, saying some coaches have come aboard pending completion of hiring documentation, and promising Orange Nation a mix of familiar and new names to his first 'Cuse staff.

"I have a couple of guys waiting, we're getting right to work," McNamara hinted Monday with the transfer portal opening April 7. "There will be a lot of familiar faces, you're going to know a lot of them. There's going to be some new faces (too). we're going to get it (the staff) right."

When McNamara concluded his Orange career in 2006, his final home game came against a No.4 ranked Villanova team that topped the Orange 92-82 that day, a game GMac finished with 29-points in defeat, and played in front of a Dome crowd of 33,633, including some 50 busloads of native Scrantonians who came to pay homage to their hometown hero.

Based on the early enthusiasm for what lays ahead this off-season in changing the program's image, a crowd even approaching 30,000 come November for McNamara's SU head coaching debut would not be a suprising development.

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