Gerry McNamara has had ties to Syracuse toward the end of this season, and following Siena’s impressive outing against Duke, it looks like it will now be time for the reunion and for his third chapter with the team.

According to a source at ESPN, he is expected to become the head coach of the men’s basketball team in the “near future.”

This reunion between the former 2003 national champion and his alma mater comes after two seasons at the helm of the Saints, during which he posted a 37-30 record and won the MAAC Conference title for the first time since 2010, sending the team to the NCAA Tournament. They would face Duke as a #16 seed, where they would lead the majority of the game, and nearly come away with what people were calling the “Sienarella.” They would inevitably fall, but would make history in being the only #16 seed to ever lead a #1 seed by double digits at halftime.

McNamara will be the replacement for Adrian Autry, who he served as an assistant coach for, as well as the notorious Jim Boeheim. Auty was fired after the ACC Tournament after going 49-48 with the program over his three seasons in charge, and not making it to the NCAA Tournament in any of those seasons.

McNamara wasn’t only great as an assistant for the Orange, but also as a player. He was a three-time All-Big East selection and started all 135 games with the team, and he holds the program record for minutes played and three-pointers made during his time there as a player from 2002-06.

In 2023, two decades after the infamous national title, the last for Syracuse, his jersey would be strung up in the rafters. He will now look to head the program and revive it to what it once was after the team finished 14th in the ACC this past season.