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GrokKatie Marie Stott, Gerry McNamara's wife of nearly two decades, grew up alongside him in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and has remained at his side through every phase of his basketball life - from national championship player to long-time assistant to first-year Division I head coach.
Gerard Thomas McNamara, born August 28, 1983, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, built one of the most beloved careers in college basketball history at Syracuse University. A guard who never missed a start across his four seasons (2002-2006), he helped lead the Orange to the 2003 NCAA National Championship alongside Carmelo Anthony.
He left Syracuse as the program's all-time leader in career three-pointers made (400), minutes played (4,799), and free-throw percentage (.888).
After graduation, McNamara played professionally in Greece, Latvia, and the NBA G League before returning to Syracuse in 2009 as a graduate assistant. He spent 15 years on the Orange coaching staff, rising to associate head coach, before being named the 19th head coach in Siena College men's basketball history on March 29, 2024.
Katie Marie Stott Is Gerry McNamara's High School Sweetheart From Scranton, Pennsylvania, Who Has Followed Him Through Every Transition in His Career
Katie Marie Stott and Gerry McNamara grew up together in Scranton, a working-class city in northeastern Pennsylvania that produced one of college basketball's most celebrated local heroes.
Their relationship began in high school, and their upcoming wedding was notable enough that the Scranton Times-Tribune ran an announcement in its wedding section - a reflection of how deeply the McNamara name was embedded in the community by that point.
The couple married on July 21, 2007, just over a year after Gerry concluded his playing career at Syracuse. The ceremony united two Scranton-area families, and Katie became his wife at a time when Gerry's next chapter - a professional playing career overseas - was just beginning.
That meant frequent moves, uncertainty, and the particular challenge of building a life alongside someone whose career kept pulling them toward different cities.
Katie followed Gerry through his professional stops in Greece, Latvia, and California before he retired and returned to Syracuse in 2009. She settled with him in the Syracuse area, where they built their family life over the next 15 years.
According to the Siena University Athletics profile, Gerry and Katie are the proud parents of four children: sons Gerry and Patrick, and daughters Maggie and Grace.
During McNamara's long tenure as an assistant coach at Syracuse, Katie remained rooted in the community that embraced the whole family. McNamara himself has spoken openly about how much that stability meant to him.
When he accepted the Siena head coaching position in 2024, he described leaving Syracuse as one of the hardest decisions he had ever made - not because of basketball, but because of what it meant for Katie and the children.
"This place took care of my children," he said at his Siena introductory press conference, adding that the move weighed on him "more than anything I've ever done on the basketball court."
The Family's Move to Albany Marked a New Beginning That Katie Helped Make Possible
When McNamara was formally introduced as Siena's head coach at MVP Arena in Albany in the spring of 2024, the McNamara children were seen running around the arena concourse with their cousins during the event.
Katie was present for the moment that marked her husband's transition from longtime assistant to head coach - a role he had spent years preparing for.
Gerry has credited family as the central force in his life. At his Siena press conference, he said his life comes down to two things: basketball and family.
Both were present that day in Albany, with the McNamara kids already wearing Siena Saints gear they had picked up from the campus bookstore before the event.
Siena's director of athletics, John D'Argenio, specifically welcomed Katie by name when announcing the hire, saying: "We are ecstatic to welcome Gerry, Katie, and their children into our Siena community."
The same acknowledgment appeared in Syracuse's own statement on McNamara's departure, a small but pointed recognition that Katie has been part of the institutional identity of her husband's career in a way that goes beyond typical spousal mentions.
In his first season at Siena (2024-25), McNamara guided the Saints to a 10-win improvement - tied for the ninth-best single-season turnaround nationally, according to Siena's athletics department.
He was named one of 16 finalists for the CollegeInsider.com Joe B. Hall Award for top first-year Division I head coach. Behind every step of that turnaround, Katie and the family had made the move work.
For McNamara, family and basketball have never existed in separate compartments. He brought his children to practices at the Melo Center during his Syracuse years and has described fatherhood as his most important accomplishment during his time in central New York.
Katie, by all accounts, has been the constant that made that balance possible - through the professional playing years, the long assistant coaching tenure, the overseas uncertainty, and now the demands of a first head coaching job.
Additional Information:
- Gerry McNamara's jersey number 3 was officially retired by Syracuse University in March 2023, alongside his former teammate Hakim Warrick's number 21. Katie and the family were present for that milestone.
- McNamara won a gold medal representing the United States at the 2005 World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, one year before marrying Katie.
- McNamara's final regular-season home game at the Carrier Dome on March 5, 2006, drew 33,633 fans, setting what was then an all-time NCAA record for an on-campus regular-season game. More than 3,000 fans - dubbed "McNamara's Band" - made the two-hour trip from Scranton, including his parents, who attended every game of his college career.
