Gerry McNamara has returned to coach at his alma mater, and Syracuse legend Carmelo Anthony fully supports it.
Anthony, who is the father of Syracuse freshman Kiyan Anthony, said McNamara is the right person to fully develop his son.
“(Gerry) is going to bring something out of Kai [Kiyan Anthony],” Anthony said during a recent episode of the “7 p.m. in Brooklyn” podcast. “And the first way he’s going to do that is giving him that confidence that he needs. … The plan is to build a program. Get a program back. That’s the plan.”
The elder Anthony was teammates with McNamara on Syracuse’s 2003 national championship team and said that the school was right for hiring him.
McNamara led Siena to the NCAA Tournament this season, his second with the school, and the Saints gave Duke a first-round scare before suffering a hard-fought 71-65 loss.
“As an alumni, it was the right thing to do,” Anthony said. “When you talking about everybody who’s checked the boxes, (Gerry is) young, 42 years old. He got experience. He has 15 years under one of the greatest head coaches to ever coach this game.
“(He) left, had (his) opportunity to show what (he was) about.”
Anthony also added that the people in consideration for the Syracuse job had similar resumes to McNamara, but it made more sense to hire someone with such close ties to the school.
“Who was involved, who was being considered, if you take a bunch of those guys, they are all the same,” Anthony said. “So why not go get somebody who if you cut them open, they bleed orange?”
McNamara was hired by Syracuse on March 22.
“I love this place. I love what Syracuse means to the fans, to the players who have worn this jersey, to the people of central New York,” McNamara said in a statement released by the school. “This program has given me everything, and I am ready to give everything back to it.”
Despite coming to Syracuse as a four-star recruit, Kiyan Anthony experienced an up-and-down freshman campaign at the school, averaging eight points while shooting 39.9 percent from the field while primarily coming off of the bench.
Kiyan Anthony did show flashes of offensive potential with the Orange, including a 19-point performance against Delaware State at the start of this season.
ESPN analysts Terrence Oglesby and Seth Greenberg previously told The Post that though Anthony does have NBA potential, it would be best for him to remain at the college level for at least another year.
“He needs to be patient. Being a legacy is not easy because there’s so much expectation,” Greenberg said. “It’s all in working on the right things and not letting anyone else run your race.”
“He’s a very talented player. This is not one of these situations, it’s a superstar’s kid,” Oglesby added. “This is a kid who’s got size, who has ability. He does still have a lot to learn, but everybody who’s 18, 19 years old has a lot to learn.”
