LSU makes Matt McMahon hire official following firing of Will Wade

The LSU Tigers officially announced the hire of Murray State head coach Matt McMahon on Monday evening. McMahon takes over after the Tigers fired former head coach Will Wade for cause. He steps in to lead the NCAA tournament team that exited the Big Dance in the first round last week.

The announcement comes after On3’s Billy Embody reported McMahon was favorite on Sunday night. The Murray State Racers won their opening-round NCAA Tournament game against San Francisco. However, Saint Peter’s bounced them out in the second round this past weekend. McMahon reportedly picked the LSU job over interest from South Carolina.

Since taking over the Racers prior to the 2015 season, McMahon led Murray State to a 54-67 record. Additionally, the program has made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. 

Moreover, McMahon is coming off his best season yet at Murray State. The Racers amassed a record of 31-3, while winning all 18 of their conference games. As you can see, his team was one of the most dominant in the nation. However, it didn’t carry over into the NCAA Tournament — Murray State was eliminated by upstart Saint Peter’s in the 2nd Round on Saturday.

McMahon’s 31-win season at Murray State is tied for most wins in a single season in program history. The Racers won 31 games on two other occasions, in 2011-12 and 2009-10.

McMahon takes over for Will Wade in Baton Rouge

Since taking over Murray State in 2015, McMahon has turned the program around. After hovering around .500 in each of his first two seasons at the helm, Murray State has since gone 26-6, 28-5, 23-9, 13-13 (during the COVID-19 season) and 31-3. He’s established Murray State as an OVC power not just through his record but also his recruiting. McMahon recruited and developed NFL star Ja Morant. Morant was a completely unranked recruit coming out of high school, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

McMahon has developed one consensus All-American in Morant, the only such honoree in Murray State program history, and he was named the OVC Coach of the Year in the 2021-22 season.

A native of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, McMahon played four seasons as a guard at Appalachian State. He immediately joined the coaching ranks after graduation, spending time as a graduate assistant at both Appalachian State and Tennessee. Appalachian State hired him back in 2002 as a full-time assistant coach.

He spent nine seasons as an assistant at Appalachian State, before moving on to UNC Wilmington in the same role for two seasons, then accepting the assistant role at Murray State. He spent five years as an assistant at Murray State before getting the head coach promotion.

On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this report.