Syracuse’s Problems Are Big Enough That Even Carmelo Anthony Is Weighing In

One tried-and-true sign of dysfunction in a college sports team is when the parents of players get testy online.

It’s one thing when Tyler Betsey’s dad is shouting from the rooftops for Syracuse to put his son in the starting five. But how about when the parent in question is named Carmelo Anthony?

That’s Melo, the Syracuse legend, reacting to what he’s seeing from the Orange by shaking his you-know-what head.

Maybe they feel emboldened to say these things publicly because they know the head coach is in a weakened position. Adrian “Red” Autry, former Orange guard and Jim Boeheim’s hand-picked successor, has gotten nowhere in three years and all of Syracuse nation is ready for him to go.

The Orange fell 87–77 at No. 14 North Carolina in a “Big Monday” ESPN game nowhere near as close as the final score would suggest. The Tar Heels led by 32 with 10 minutes to go before Syracuse closed the gap with, essentially, 37 garbage-time points.

It was during this game that Anthony, whose son Kiyan Anthony is a freshman there, chose to speak up. In a season chock full of diaper dandies doing their thing, Kiyan Anthony has put up a quiet 8.9 points in 19.3 minutes per game.

Syracuse has dropped five of six since a 3–1 start to ACC play. At 13–10, the Orange don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes time to talk tournament resumes. They beat Tennessee and that’s about it.

It’s by far the most talented team in Autry’s three seasons, with Donnie Freeman (a former five-star high school recruit) returning from injury in time for conference play and J.J. Starling an accomplished senior shooting guard by now.

Yet with the loss to UNC, Syracuse dropped to 4–22 in Quad 1 games under Autry. They’re 14th in the conference in scoring, their rebounding margin is underwater and they can’t make a free throw to save their lives.

More importantly, fans just aren’t showing up. This looks like the building formerly known as the Carrier Dome was hosting a local AAU or wrestling tournament.

What fans are doing instead are calling Autry on his own radio show and asking him who would be the best candidates to replace him — before someone behind the scenes, regrettably, cut the call.

This is a program that thinks highly of itself; the Final Four runs and other high points of the Boeheim era weren’t that long ago.

As someone who didn’t grow up in Central New York, here’s my perspective: Syracuse is a basketball school. It’s a few tiers away from “blue blood” status and it’s certainly not some national travesty when it’s bad. But it’s weird to see the Orange lost in the wilderness. It’s Maryland — a big deal regionally, with one national title won in the early 2000s — that maybe shouldn’t have left its previous conference for football reasons since the emphasis has always been more on men’s hoops than football.

Anyway: If you’re Syracuse, you don’t want to sink lower than this. Fans know it. The Anthony family knows it. It would be an embarrassment for them to trot Autry back out for a fourth year, especially if it prompts Kiyan Anthony to transfer.

So let’s answer Tyler in Binghamton’s radio question. Syracuse could summon home a different alum — one who has previous head-coaching experience where Autry did not — in the form of Gerry McNamara, who has nearby Siena 16–7 and 9–3 in the MAAC. Or the university could make the difficult choice to go “outside the family” for its next hire.

In the meantime, Syracuse still has to play ranked Virginia, Duke and Louisville on the road. Brace yourself. Otto the Orange is going to be squeezed into juice.