Much-improved Coyle playing big role in breakout season for Siena men's basketball

Brendan Coyles family lives in Niskayuna, but because their home sits about a half a block outside the border of the Niskayuna school district, he attended Colonie High School instead.

Then again, the margins can be vast.

If the Siena mens basketball season had begun in the middle of last summer, the 6-foot-7 junior forward wouldve been warming the bench.

But after having spent his sophomore season on the fringes of a 4-28 team, the former redshirt walk-on has made a huge jump in performance and playing time during a breakout 2024-25 season in which he has started all 15 games and is one of the leading 3-point shooters in the MAAC.

Coyle is coming off a single-game career-high 20 points in a 74-73 loss to Iona at MVP Arena on Sunday, a far cry from not only his first two seasons, but from first-year head coach Gerry McNamaras assessment of Coyle shortly after he was hired to replace Carmen Maciariello last spring.

I vividly remember a staff meeting [in early August] where I said to the staff, I dont know if you guys are paying attention to whats going on with Brendan Coyle, but the last two weeks, hes looked different to me, first-year head coach Gerry McNamara said last Thursday.

If we went into a game tomorrow, hed be my starting 4-man.

A confluence of elements have quickly turned Coyle into the third-leading scorer on the team (11.7 points per game) and leading rebounder (4.3 rpg) while averaging 32.7 minutes.

He cranked up more shots on his own beyond practice, but besides volume, the Siena coaching staff has tweaked ways in which Coyle can get his shot off more quickly.

Then there is the increased confidence Coyle developed in his game in 2024 and the fact that, at 6-7, he can get his shot up and over smaller defenders.

That confidence has only been bolstered by the arrival of McNamara, who set records for 3-pointers made (400) and attempted (1,131) in four years at Syracuse University.

He tells me to keep shooting, Coyle said with a grin last Thursday.

From a shooter himself, that builds confidence in me.

I told him from the moment I got here, Youve got to have fast feet.

Youve got to be ready to get it off quick, and I want you to shoot every time you get daylight, McNamara said.

Maybe its a little bit of that, a little bit of confidence to get him going.

But its more him, the time hes put in, the effort, the focus.

Its also a product of how Siena plays on offense and the ability of the Saints guards to attack the paint.

Then its up to Coyle to find a spot on the perimeter that not only gets him open for a shot, but provides a kickout passing lane for the drivers.

On the flip side, Coyles positioning out there can actually help open the driving lanes, McNamara said.

He kind of generates our offense, McNamara said.

If you dont have one or two guys on the court that, if you make a mistake they can make you pay for it, those other guys dont have the opportunity to attack those gaps.

Hes the ultimate spacer.

He knows every set.

Everything I call, he knows exactly what hes supposed to do and where hes supposed to be.

Our guards do a very good job of getting downhill, and when they do, its on me to be able to relocate myself to find an open pass from them and knock down a 3, Coyle said, in response to a question about his 5-for-13 3-pointer smorgasbord in a 66-53 win at Canisius on Dec.

8.

Through Monday, Coyle leads the MAAC in 3s made (44) and attempted (105) and is in the top 10 in percentage (.419).

The Canisius game came two days after Coyle, a 76.5% free throw shooter, missed two from the line with 0.7 seconds left in a one-point loss at Niagara.

He didnt appear in a game as a redshirt walk-on as a freshman (he was on scholarship as of last season), but it wasnt a lost season, Coyle said, because he soaked up knowledge from veterans like Michael Baer, Andrew Platek and Jackson Stormo.

That came in handy after the Niagara loss, when he referred back to Baers expertise in the cognition of ...

goldfish.

You just have to flush it, Coyle said, of the free throws, not the goldfish.

I was talking to Michael Baer my freshman year about his whole thing with the memory of goldfish, and it really stuck with me.

Have a memory of about 10 seconds.

Once its over, its over.

At Colonie, Coyle was called up to the varsity late in his freshman year, then played two full seasons on a team that twice fell short in the Section 2 tournament.

He played his senior season at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts, an experience he said not only allowed him to get physically ready for college ball, but also exposed him to being on my own and fully reliant on myself and becoming more independent.

I was kind of open to anything, seeing where the recruitment process took me, he said.

Then right before I graduated, coach Carm offered me the walk-on spot, and I felt like that was the best fit for me and the best opportunity.

I never really looked at the portal after coach Carm got fired.

I wanted to wait and see exactly what was going to go on, because it was kind of a weird time period.

Nobody really saw what was coming, then when they hired coach McNamara and he called me and I decided to stay.

That has paid off in a big way, for both Coyle and Siena.

Besides Coyles shooting, McNamara said he has made a substantial improvement in his defense.

In general, Coyle also typifies the hard-nosed player McNamara has attempted to fill his roster with.

Coyle didnt waste any time this season showing what a quantum leap he had made.

In Sienas opener, a 72-71 overtime win over Brown at MVP Arena, he made three free throws with two seconds left in regulation and two more in overtime.

He made three of seven 3s in the game and scored 15 points, after having scored a total of 66 points in 22 appearances last season.

You think about the first game against Brown.

Hes from this area, and I dont know how many people in this area wouldve seen this coming, McNamara said..

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