Siena Fires Men’s Hoops Coach Maciariello After Five Seasons in Capital Region

Siena College is making a change with their men's basketball program.

The school announced Wednesday that Carmen Maciariello will not return as the head coach of the Saints. Maciariello recently completed his fifth season at the helm of the program, and his sixth consecutive year on-staff with Siena.

Siena posted this update on X earlier today:

Maciariello inherited the program from Jamion Christian ahead of the 2019-20 season. Maciariello's team finished in first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in 2019-20, and beat No. 9 Manhattan in the MAAC Tournament Quarterfinals.

The remainder of the tournament would end up being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ending the Saints' season in heartbreak.

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The following year, while still dealing with COVID-19 restrictions, Maciariello and the Saints still finished in a tie for first place in the regular season. Ready for another run at a MAAC Championship, their season would again end in the quarterfinals, as they were upset by No. 9 Iona.

The Saints would finish in third place each of the next two seasons. Each year, they would make it to the quarterfinals, yet each postseason, they could not get over the hump and advance to the semifinals.

This past season, the Saints finished with a record of 4-28, their worst under Coach Maciariello. The team's star player, Sean Durugordon, was forced to miss most of the first half of the season, as he and other two-time transfers waited for a ruling from the NCAA on their collective eligibility.

In total, Durugordon only played in 14 of 32 games, while star guard Michael Eley only played 19 games.

Anything that could've gone wrong this season for the Saints did go wrong, and unfortunately, Carm Maciariello won't have the chance to lead the program to a rebound season.

It's always a sad day when a local coach loses their job. As listeners of "The Drive" know, Coach Maciariello and I spoke on the phone each week during the season. Whether the team had won or lost that weekend was inconsequential, as Coach would approach with each interview with honesty, passion and integrity.

I have nothing but positive things to say about Coach Carm, and I wish him and his family nothing but the best moving forward.