The CBS Sports team compiled its “Hot Seat” list and broke down the 17 coaches into tiers. The most dire were “Uncomfortably Hot,” and Adrian Autry fell under the “Situations to Monitor” heading. The Orange look to have saved their ACC Tournament slot with a win over NC State, but the season has been a slog from the outset with many fans calling for Autry’s dismissal.
“Syracuse wasn’t expected to be an NCAA Tournament team, but there was hope the program could make some strides this season. That hasn’t happened. The Orange recently blew a 16-point first-half lead and have bad losses on their résumé to Pitt, Miami, Stanford and Florida State. Syracuse went 20-12 (11-9 ACC play) in the first season post-Jim Boeheim but won’t sniff that mark this season.”
While it’s true most Orange fans didn’t need a spot in the NCAA Tournament to be satisfied this season, dropping from a 20-win squad to one at the edge of missing the ACC Tourney is painful. The drop off has been dramatic from Autry’s first season. This isn’t the first hot seat list from a national outlet that Autry has landed on. Two weeks ago, Autry had the honor of being named to another. The college basketball world has taken notice of how rough this year has been.
“There is hope that Syracuse could turn it around and make a jump during the 2025-26 season, assuming the program can maintain its incoming recruiting class led by four-star guard Kiyan Anthony, the son of NBA legend and one of the greatest players in Syracuse program history, Carmelo Anthony. Firing Autry now runs the risk of Anthony and/or fellow incoming four-star forward Sadiq White Jr. backing off their respective pledges to Syracuse. It may be too early to let Autry go, but the returns this season aren’t up to the standard Boeheim built.”
There seems to be no urgency within the program to fire Autry, and that’s the prudent move. One good season followed by one bad season, so it’s hard to say which one is the outlier. Autry hasn’t helped his cause by seemingly acting as though nothing is that big of a deal. He said the criticism he’s heard about the program doesn’t faze him because he’s “from the hood” and has seen a lot worse. The team has also seemingly made bone-headed decisions without learning from their mistakes.
While the “standard” that Boeheim built certainly wasn’t 6-11 in the conference, let’s not forget the Orange missed the tourney his last two seasons at the helm. So the real frustration is that this year feels like a continuation of the flat line that the program suffered towards the end of Boeheim’s era. This will be the fourth straight season the Orange miss the Big Dance, meaning next year becomes a flaming hot seat for Autry.
