Syracuse, N.Y. – Adrian Autry’s run as Syracuse’s head coach is over as school officials have fired the former Orange star on Wednesday after three disappointing seasons.
Multiple sources close to SU Athletics confirmed to Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that Autry is out at SU following a third season that ended just as the first two did – without an NCAA Tournament appearance.
The university said in a news release Wednesday morning it has already started a national search for the next head coach will move “quickly.”
The news was reported first by ESPN.
Autry’s brief term marks the shortest tenure of any coach in the 120-plus year history of the SU basketball program. He exits with a 49-48 record, the lowest winning percentage (.505) of any coach who held the position on a full-time basis.
Not only did Autry fail to lead Syracuse back to the NCAA Tournament, the perceived lack of progress drew the ire, and apathy, of the school’s fan base.
The amount the university would pay to buy out the remainder of Autry’s contract is not publicly available. He just completed the third year of his original five-year contract. Autry earned just less than $1.8 million in 2023, the year he was promoted to head coach.
When he was introduced as SU’s coach on March 10, 2023, Autry faced two daunting challenges.
The first was succeeding Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, his former coach for whom he had served as an assistant since 2010.
Autry’s second challenge tasked him with returning the program to its past glory.
1/36
Adrian “Red” Autry through the years: Syracuse University’s new men’s basketball coach is out after 3 seasons as head coach
As it became apparent Autry’s time was up late in the season, he alluded to how changes in the college game had been a challenge to navigate as he took control of the program.
After Tuesday’s season-ending loss in the ACC tournament, Autry referenced the importance of having money to acquire and retain players and the overall investment needed to compete as the sport shifts toward a more professionalized model.
“Those are the variables that, before I took the job, I probably didn’t put that much emphasis on,” Autry said. “But sitting here now, especially with how things have progressed in the last three years, I don’t know if anyone knew it was going to progress to this extent.”
Boeheim had led Syracuse to incredible heights during his 47-year career, including five Final Fours and the 2003 NCAA championship.
But the SU program had declined prior to Boeheim’s retirement. Syracuse had missed out on the NCAA Tournament in each of Boeheim’s last two years. In 2022, the Orange had posted a 16-17 record, the first and only losing season under Boeheim.
In the end, the weighty expectations of the first challenge combined with the realities of the second to hasten Autry’s firing after just three seasons.
His teams were built to play hard, relentless defense that too often softened and succumbed against ACC-quality opponents. Flawed roster construction led to an offensive style of play that was limited in the ways it could attack defenses. Late-game execution regularly became a problem in close losses.
Aside from a few memorable wins, the Orange largely proved to be overmatched against its toughest competition. The Orange was 4-28 in Quad I games over the last three seasons, including a 1-11 mark this year and 0-10 mark last year.
Syracuse has now gone five straight years without earning an NCAA Tournament bid. It’s the longest tournament drought for the program since a six-season span from 1967 to 1972.
Syracuse hasn’t been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll since December 2018, an unfathomable drought for a program once ranked every week from 1984 to 1991.
Autry came to Syracuse in 1990 as a highly coveted recruit out of New York City. He was a McDonald’s All-American at St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School.
As a senior, he led Syracuse to the 1994 NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. His playing career ended with an overtime loss to Missouri.
After a pro career overseas, Autry decided to pursue a career in basketball. He worked at Paul VI High School just outside of Washington, D.C. He drew the interest of Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, who hired him as a director of basketball operations.
Autry moved up to a full-time assistant’s role at Virginia Tech before Boeheim offered him a job at his alma mater in 2010.
“Adrian first came to Syracuse as a student-athlete in 1990, and this program has been a constant in his life ever since: as a player, assistant coach, associate head coach and ultimately as head coach,” Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack said in a statement. “His dedication to our student-athletes on and off the court never wavered throughout his time here, and we are grateful for his service and commitment to Orange Basketball.”
Autry recruited the likes of Jerami Grant, Tyler Ennis, Chris McCullough and current SU forward Donnie Freeman to play for the Orange.
Autry’s self-appointed mission was to return Syracuse to its past glory. In a nod to Boeheim’s legacy, Autry adopted the phrase #OrangeStandard. The words adorn a wall in his office directly behind his desk.
“There is a standard here,” Autry said prior to his first season. “We need to remember that and embrace that. I may do some things differently, but it’s the same standard.”
He fell short of that goal.
He recently acknowledged that, noting how changes in the game such as the transfer portal and NIL payments to athletes changed the game.
“I probably should have peeled that back a little bit more,” Autry said following SU’s 71-69 overtime loss to Pittsburgh this past Saturday. “Getting back to the standard, you know, is going to be a little more challenging than we all thought it would be, or it is because everything has changed.”
His best year was his first at the helm as he led a group of players largely recruited to play in Boeheim’s system, including Judah Mintz, Maliq Brown, Quadir Copeland and Chris Bell, to a 20-12 record.
After that 2023-24 season, Mintz turned pro, and Brown, Copeland, Justin Taylor, Benny Williams, Mounir Hima, Peter Carey and William Patterson all transferred.
A small budget to build a competitive team hampered Autry’s efforts to replenish Syracuse’s roster in advance of his second year.
A group of transfers, including Eddie Lampkin (Colorado), Jaquan Carlos (Hofstra), Lucas Taylor (Georgia State) and Jyare Davis (Delaware), proved to be well below the level of talent necessary to win in the ACC.
The Orange finished the 2024-25 season with a 14-19 overall record, the worst mark in more than 50 years.
Last March, Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack addressed his expectations for the Orange basketball program, saying he wanted the team to play “meaningful games in March.”
At Syracuse’s annual media day prior to the season, Autry laid out his goals with much more bluntness.
“I want to make the tournament every year,” Autry said at the time. “And what (Wildhack) said, I think that’s what this community expects. I expect it, so I’m not shying away from that. That’s what I want, too.”
Despite posting a losing record in his second season, there was hope for a revival entering this season.
Syracuse increased the amount of money available to pay players, although where the Orange stands in comparison with the rest of the ACC is murky. There’s no public disclosure that can verify how much schools are spending to construct their teams.
In the first year in which schools can directly pay athletes, Autry convinced his top players, Donnie Freeman and JJ Starling, to return.
Also, for the first time, Autry had the assistance of a general manager to help identify players in the NCAA’s transfer portal who fit his system.
Alex Kline, a Syracuse alum with eight years of experience as an NBA scout with the New Orleans Pelicans and the New York Knicks, had been the first GM in SU history when he was hired in the summer of 2024.
Kline helped Autry and his staff bring in key transfers such as UCLA center William Kyle III, Georgia Tech guard Naithan George and Oregon State guard Nate Kingz.
The Orange ran into a speed bump almost as soon as the season began with Freeman, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, injuring his right foot. It was the same foot, although not the same injury, that had sidelined the former five-star recruit for the last 19 games of his freshman season.
Freeman would miss nine games, with Syracuse going 5-4 without him.
Syracuse seemed to get a boost upon Freeman’s return for the Orange’s ACC opener against Clemson on New Year’s Eve. Syracuse lost, 64-61, but Freeman scored all 18 of his points in the game’s final 12 minutes.
After that, Syracuse won three straight games to improve to 12-5 on the year and 3-1 in the ACC.
But the Clemson loss became an example of what had ailed Autry’s teams too often: an inability to execute in the game’s most crucial moments.
Syracuse was on the cusp of the NCAA Tournament conversation until four consecutive losses derailed the season. The downfall began with an overtime loss at ACC cellar-dweller Boston College in which Freeman and George combined for 14 turnovers.
When Miami beat the Orange 85-76 on Jan. 24, fans at the JMA Wireless Dome voiced their frustration with boos. Some chanted “Fire Autry’’ to express their desire for change.
It became clear that the end of the Autry era was coming with each defeat the rest of the way. The Orange lost 12 of its last 15 games, including six straight losses to close the season.
With home attendance declining to historic lows and important donors rumored to be dissatisfied with the team’s lack of success, it was more a matter of when, not if, Autry would be dismissed.
