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McNeese State's Amir Khan becomes first student manager to sign NIL deal

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•about 12 hours•

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McNeese State basketball manager Amir Khan
Photo courtesy of @reed_vial3/X

As McNeese State made a run to the NCAA Tournament, Amir Khan went viral. A senior student manager, he rose to stardom after a video showed him with his now-famous boombox, firing up the Cowboys before a game.

Now, Khan is making NIL history. He signed deals with Buffalo Wild Wings, TickPick and Insomnia Cookies – becoming the first manager to ever to sign an NIL deal.

Khan is in his second season as a student manager at McNeese under Will Wade. Amid his journey to becoming a social media sensation, a quote on his official team bio took off, as well. He summed up his time with the Cowboys by appropriately describing the role he plays.

“If they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court, I’d put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers,” Khan said.

Amir Khan has developed a strong social media following the last few weeks as McNeese continued its quest for a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. He has more than 8,700 followers on TikTok, 2,700 on Instagram and 1,100 on X. Those numbers are sure to keep growing as March Madness gets underway this week.

“He is incredible,” Wade said of Khan while speaking with CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. “His dad is a doctor in town, so his dad was actually on the court after the game when we were celebrating last night. I said, ‘How’s it feel to have a famous son? More famous than anybody in the town?’ And he was laughing. But he’s a phenomenal kid, phenomenal young man. He’s getting his degree in sports management at McNeese. He wants to go into athletics, and certainly we’re going to help him start his career.

“Our players love Amir. He’s always funny, he’s quick-witted, he’s always got something to come back and he knows everything about everything in sports. He’s a phenomenal kid. It’s been great just to see him get the recognition and the way he shared it with the managers and the team and how excited our team is for him is really, really cool.”

McNeese State takes an 11-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament after defeating Lamar in the Southland Conference tournament title game on Wednesday. It marked the Cowboys’ second consecutive Southland tournament championship, and the program is off to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time in history.

McNeese State is a No. 12 seed in March Madness this year. The Cowboys will take on Clemson in the first round of the Midwest Region.