GREEN ISLAND, N.Y. — For Brian and Ryan Beaury, there are some aspects of their new roles on the Siena College men’s basketball coaching staff that are going to take some getting used to.
For Brian, 63, it’s not saying he’s still the coach of the Saint Rose Golden Knights men’s basketball team, where he spent 33 years, winning over 650 games. “I did make a phone call to somebody and said, ‘Hi, this is Brian Beaury, from Saint Rose.’ So It’s gonna take me a minute, but it won’t take me long,” the former head coach said at a Siena court rehab dedication and ice cream social, this past Monday at George Street court.
Brian said he was officially installed in his new post at Siena on Thursday, July 25. He joins new head coach Gerry McNamara in the role of Special Assistant to the head coach. For Ryan Beaury, Brian’s nephew and the Saints’ new director of basketball operations, it’s been hard not to refer to the new special assistant as, ‘Uncle Brian.
’ “He tells me, ‘Hey man, you got to stop that. You got to stop that.’ But it’s been great,” said Ryan with a laugh.
“I remember going to his games as a kid and asking him questions because I played basketball growing up and just being like, ‘Hey, Uncle Brian, what do you think about this, what do you think about that, picking his brain about various things.’ It’s great to be able to do that now sitting in the same office and watching film with him.” Photo of new Siena men's basketball Director of operations Ryan Beaury, who was a member of the Syracuse University men's basketball coaching staff from 2019-2023.
(PROVIDED VIA SIENA ATHLETICS) The Siena College men's and women's basketball team, along with Fenimore Asset Management, Dick's House of Sport, and the Village of Green Island Rec Department put on the third annual court rehabilitation dedication and ice cream social, at George Street Basketball Court, in Green Island, N.Y., on Monday, June 29, 2024.
(PHOTO BY DREW WEMPLE - MEDIANEWSGROUP) FILE: Siena College men's basketball head coach Gerry McNamara speaks to the media, fans, players, family, others in attendance, during his introductory press conference at MVP Arena on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (DREW WEMPLE - MEDIANEWS GROUP). Photo of new Siena men's basketball Director of operations Ryan Beaury, who was a member of the Syracuse University men's basketball coaching staff from 2019-2023.
(PROVIDED VIA SIENA ATHLETICS) Ryan’s addition to the Saints’ staff came back on April 25. Long before that, he remembers attending his Uncle’s “Brian Beaury Basketball Camp,” which has been running since 1985 at Rensselaer Jr./Sr.
High School. Vice versa, Ryan also recalls seeing his Uncle in the stands as just a supporter, during his playing days at Hadley-Luzerne. Their connection through family and basketball now carries over to a new chapter for the Beaurys in Loudonville.
“He and I, we sort of finish each other’s sentences, so I’m glad that we’ll be sharing an office and I’m looking forward to getting rolling,” Brian said. “He’s been a great basketball mentor to me and I’m excited to continue that,” Ryan added. Ryan got his start in coaching alongside some of his other ‘mentors,’ at Syracuse University, including McNamara, with one of the reasons being still accredited towards ‘Uncle Brian.
’ From 2019-23, Ryan served as the head student manager for the Syracuse men’s basketball program, while also completing a bachelor’s degree in sports management, under Hall of Fame and former head coach Jim Boeheim. In 2023, Ryan served as the video coordinator at Syracuse, assisting with analytical studies, film work, and the creation of opponent scouting reports, while also producing recruiting-related videos, for current head coach Adrian Autry. When the rumors began to swirl that McNamara, the former associate head coach of the Orange, would be taking the head position opening for the Saints, Ryan recalled seeing them.
Once the news was official in late March, it was clear to Ryan that he should try to come aboard with McNamara to the Capital Region. “I just asked him, ‘Hey Coach, if you have any opportunities, I’d love to work for you,’” Ryan said. “I was close with him at Syracuse and he was one of my mentors there.
I worked under him for several years and he’s been great to me, so I knew it’d be a great opportunity to work under him as head coach. “My wife (Callie) and I are both from the area, so (new job) was great for us. We got a lot of big family events coming up – my sister’s pregnant, so we’ve got new babies coming into the family – so it was a no-brainer for me,” he added.
Brian got to know McNamara a different way, as he remembers watching the point guard when he was in high school at Bishop Hannon (Pa.). “I was always amazed with how well he shot the basketball.
He just kept moving out, guys would look at him and be like, ‘go ahead and shoot it,’ and he would just shoot it,” Brian said of McNamara, the two-time Associated Press and Gatorade Pennslyvania Player of the Year. “I think we might have even called his high school coach to see what he was gonna be doing. Sometimes those players slip through the cracks, but he certainly didn’t slip through the cracks.
” When Syracuse won the National Championship during McNamara’s freshman year, in 2003, the road led through MVP Arena, formerly the Times Union Center. Brian recalled writing a story for the Times Union newspaper, evaluating each of the teams playing in the Regional Round. “I interviewed (McNamara).
Not Carmelo Anthony, but Coach McNamara – back then GMAC – because he had a couple of pretty good games,” Brian said. This past season, while all three were still at their respective, former schools, they met as opponents on the sideline at the JMA Wireless Dome, when Syracuse hosted Saint Rose for an exhibition tilt on November 1. “(Brian) brought his grandson, Liam, up and he was running around on the court before the game and it was kind of a full circle moment for me back then,” Ryan said.
“Little did I know, obviously, how the cards would play out later on down the line, but it was really cool to coach against him. “All the staff members last year at Syracuse were telling me, ‘Hey, you better know all the plays, you better have this scout,” he added jokingly. “Even in an exhibition game they wanted all the insider information, but it was fun.
” Brian would learn at the end of that month, along with the rest of the Capital Region, that Saint was closing on doors at the end of this past academic year, after 120 years of educating. After over three decades and 654 wins to his name, the local coaching legend was unclear what the future held. “I didn’t know whether I’d stay in coaching.
I had a lot of friends in the business talk to me about different things, but the last thing I wanted to do is pick up my wife and move,” Brian said. “It wouldn’t be fair for me to chase basketball and go someplace else just for that. So, if Coach (McNamara) didn’t give me the opportunity, I’m not sure what I would be doing, so I’m really grateful.
“I talked to some people, but I didn’t interview for anything,” he continued. “I talked to a couple of people in the NBA about some advanced scout stuff..
.I talked about scouting in maybe Europe, but my wife is committed to looking after our grandchildren, so that would have meant me doing a lot of traveling on my own. It would have been great if we could have done that together, but that probably wasn’t in the cards.
” Brian, like his nephew, began talks with McNamara once his hiring to the head coaching position at Siena became official. “That evolved into, ‘what are you going to do now that Saint Rose is closed,’ and I said, ‘I’d love to be a part of what you’re doing,” Brian recalled of the conversations with McNamara. “If you need an old guy around that’s been part of over 1,000 games.
I’d love to play a small part of what you got going.” McNamara, through the Beaurys and others, has rebuilt the Siena coaching staff, as well as the roster, after a 4-28 season in 2023-24. As Special Assistant, Brian explained that, while he won’t be going on the road and recruiting, he’ll be at practice, watch film, work with players collectively and individually, and try to impart his ‘disruptor’ defensive mentality to the new-look Saints.
“What I’ve seen so far is, (McNamara) doesn’t need a lot of help,” Brian said. “Certainly, he’s got a great staff, but he’s exceptionally talented.” “What’s Saint Rose’s loss is our gain, for us to have (Brian) in a program that, I know because he and I have talked about it, he’s admired Siena for years,” McNamara said.
“For us to collaborate and get together, for me as a first-year head coach, with a guy of his experience is a big luxury to have.” Another luxury? Getting to reunite a basketball family on the bench for the start of a new era. While Brian will serve McNamara as a special assistant, he’ll also continue to serve Ryan as a reminder of why and how he got his start: With ‘Uncle Brian.
’ “He’s one of the reasons why I’m in this business,” Ryan said. “He’s probably forgotten more about basketball than I even know, so he’s great to have on staff.”.
