LSU Hires New Basketball Coach Who Lost His Last Big Game

It looks like LSU’s troubled men’s basketball team has a new coach and yes, he lost his last big game. Which was Saturday.

Multiple sources say that Murray State Coach Matt McMahon will be leading the Tigers hoopsters in 2022 and beyond.

But let’s be fair. To paraphrase Brad Pitt (as Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane) in the movie Moneyball, only one team wins the last game of the season and that’s the champion. A couple of days ago, McMahon’s Racers, who compiled a 31-3 record, were knocked off by tournament Cinderella St. Peter’s of New Jersey.

But 30 is a lot of wins. And though it was McMahon’s best season at the small Kentucky school, it certainly wasn’t his only great one, having won at least 20 games in four of the last five seasons. And his five season record at Murray State was an outstanding 154-67, a winning percentage of just under .700.

McMahon, of course, will be replacing Will Wade, recently fired by LSU amidst another investigation by the NCAA into his scandal-ridden program.

As ESPN says about the situation, “The uncertainty surrounding LSU’s future in the NCAA infractions process means McMahon will inherit one of the most uncertain situations in all of college basketball. A decision (punishment)…is due in the upcoming months, and it’s impossible to project the extent of the potential violations.”

Terms of McMahon’s deal have not been announced, but it’s pretty easy to assume that his contract is a lengthy one that will outlast whatever penalty or restrictions the NCAA will impose on the LSU program.

Two things are certain. First, McMahon, who was making about $500,000 a year at Murray State, is making a big jump in the income department.

And the other? In baton Rouge there will be a lot more pressure to win that last game of the season.

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