Syracuse fans show frustrations with Coach Adrian "Red" Autry after loss to lowly Miami

One of the many underachieving teams in the ACC this season is Syracuse, which is under .500 overall and in the bottom tier in the conference standings. They did get a triple-overtime victory over Boston College to be multiple games out of the bottom three to qualify for the conference tournament.

However, it’s not enough for Orange fans, who are staring at four straight years of missing out on the Big Dance. Two of them will be on the shoulders of Adrian “Red” Autry, a long-time assistant under Jim Boeheim for years who was picked to be his successor after Boeheim retired. Unfortunately, the team hasn’t improved. And they may have suffered its worst defeat of the Autry era, falling 91-84 to a Miami squad who entered the week dead last in the ACC at 1-11. They allowed 32 points to Matthew Cleveland, which overcame 25 points from Syracuse’s JJ Starling, along with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists from big man Eddie Lampkin.

That loss pushed the Orange to 11-14 and 5-9 in league play. That loss and defensive letdown may have broken some fans of the ACC program, with some starting to call for his job. This is part of a growing theme with fan bases upset with internal hires that haven’t worked out, with North Carolina, Texas, and Villanova among other national examples.

It’s going to be interesting to see whether or not Coach Autry will get a third year. They have a current top-20 incoming recruiting class, including Kiyan Anthony, the son of former Syracuse legend Carmelo Anthony.

But fans may not be willing to give the coach one more year to turn things around with the program taking a major step back as of late. And with star freshman forward Donnie Freeman out for the season with an injury, it’s hard to envision how things will get better in the next month.