It’s probably not the way Matt McMahon wanted to get his first Power 5 Conference head men’s basketball coaching job.
There’s no doubt the 43-year old McMahon paid his coaching dues in seven seasons guiding Murray State to four OVC regular season titles, three conference tournament championships, three NCAA tournament appearances and two NCAA tournament wins including one last week just before the end of a 31-3 season.
But he must have incredible confidence in himself to become LSU’s next head coach not knowing how deep the to-be-announced NCAA sanctions will bury the Tigers program for possibly a couple of seasons.
There’s the feeling if the Tigers receive anything less than a two-year NCAA tournament ban, it will be an unexpected act of kindness. Previous head coach Will Wade’s refusal to fully cooperate with NCAA investigators about his sloppy cheating will likely result in the organization plunging its sanctions knife deep into LSU’s heart.
Although Tigers’ athletic director Scott Woodward blew off the media following McMahon’s introductory press conference Wednesday, declining to stop and answer questions about the difficulties of hiring a coach with a probation sword hanging over his head, Woodward's latest hire could have been his most frustrating.
It's his mode of operation to try and hire the best of the best as he did with Kim Mulkey in women’s basketball and Brian Kelly in football. Woodward always says, “All they can tell you is `no.’”
You wonder how many big-name coaches Woodward called to gauge their interest before he realized no sane championship winning coach wanted to rebuild an imploded program that may not be able to play in the NCAA tourney for at least two seasons.
So, he dropped down to the mid-major level, found McMahon and offered him a seven-deal starting at $2.6 million in year one to give him needed security to survive an anticipated rough first couple of years with expected scholarship sanctions and a tourney ban. McMahon's contract includes a clause that should LSU be penalized of a two-year postseason ban or a reduction of of two scholarships for three years or more, an extra season will be added to his contract.
Because of LSU’s Title IX debacle revealed fully early in 2021, the NCAA investigation into football and basketball and head football coach Ed Orgeron’s firing, Woodward and especially first-year LSU President William Tate IV have sought winning coaches with squeaky clean professional reputations and with no personal skeletons in the closet.
Reading the love his former players at Murray State have given him via social media about his new LSU job and judging from his 20-minute introductory press conference, McMahon might be the most sanitized head coach that LSU has hired in the last couple of decades which may not be a bad thing.
It was reflected in almost everything he said on Wednesday, safe predictable comments that you would expect from a newly hired coach such as:
• “We're going to do things the right way, and we're going to make sure we're developing young men, not only on the court.”
• “I'm going to lay out a vision for how we're going to run our program and how it's going to benefit these young men on and off the basketball court.”
• “I'm going to get transformative people on my staff who are going to impact our young people.”
• “ I want players who want to be the best they can be. I want players who are going to be all about winning.”
• “We're going to work, we're going to do things the right way, we're going to build the program the way I want to build it.”
• “Our culture will be clearly defined. We will lead through simplicity, clarity and intentionality in everything we do.”
Most of it sounded like a well-rehearsed coach speak. But who cares about that, especially if McMahon can eventually put together a team that plays hard and smart, stays focused for more than five minutes, runs an actual offense with motion and cutting, and improves as the season progresses.
“We're going to play an up-tempo style, but we're going to be efficient with it offensively,” McMahon said. “We're going to be aggressive and physical and tough on the defensive end of the floor, and we're going to play a style that enables elite players to come here and develop into NBA players.”
The one thing McMahon sells in recruiting is player development to get to the next level. The prize example he’ll use attracting players to LSU is guard Ja Morant, taken No. 2 in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies after he played two seasons under McMahon at Murray. Morant, the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 2019-20 and who started in this season’s All-Star game, was barely recruited by anyone as a South Carolina high school senior.
“Ja Morant is one of the five best players in the world,” McMahon said. “He's the most electrifying and entertaining player in the world. I think that only helps from a program identity standpoint and a brand.”
McMahon said he hasn’t hired a staff yet, but doesn’t think it will be a problem because “everybody wants to come to LSU.”
Not exactly.
Wade’s Class of 2022 signees have already bailed as well other future commits. McMahon’s immediate biggest challenge is persuading any underclassman (besides sophomore Tari Eason who will most certainly declare for the NBA Draft) on this past season’s 22-12 NCAA tourney team to return next season.
“It's all about getting the right people in the bus, and we're going to work to establish those relationships (with current LSU players),” McMahon said.
Finally, the best thing about McMahon is his ability to put the doom of LSU's impending NCAA sanctions in a corner while being Mr. Sunny Side Up.
“This is LSU, one of the great brands in all of sports,” McMahon said. “This is the SEC. We've built a program with elite players, and we're going to continue to do that here at LSU. . . No concerns (about the effect of a coming probation) there at all. I'm excited about this opportunity of a lifetime, and we're ready to roll.”
If McMahon can squeeze out a winning record anytime in the next two seasons with whatever players he can sign, he shall forever be dubbed “Magic Matt.”
