LSU fires men’s basketball coach Matt McMahon to bring back former coach Will Wade

LSU is bringing Will Wade back.

According to multiple reports the school has fired men’s basketball coach Matt McMahon and re-hire Wade. McMahon was hired the season after Wade was fired in 2022. According to ESPN, McMahon is owed a buyout of over $8 million because there are three seasons remaining on his contract.

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Wade will return to LSU after spending one season at NC State. The Wolfpack went 20-14 in 2025-26 and lost to Texas in the First Four for their eighth loss in their final 10 games of the season. His hire reportedly comes with involvement from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry in a scenario not all that unfamiliar from what unfolded at the end of the football season when Landry was heavily involved in the recruitment of Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss.

The Tigers are parting ways with McMahon after four seasons. This season, the Tigers were last in the SEC with a 3-15 regular season record in conference play and were 15-17 overall. LSU was 60-70 in McMahon’s tenure and had just one season above .500. That came in 2023-24, when the Tigers were 17-16.

McMahon was hired to replace Wade after Wade was fired in March of that season following an NCAA notice of allegations regarding the 2019 revelations of the FBI investigation into college basketball. Wade was caught on a wiretap referencing a “strong-ass offer” for a recruit. That was back when players were not allowed to be paid. Now, college athletes can make money off their name, image and likeness rights.

The Tigers were a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament in Wade’s final season and lost in the first round of the tournament under interim coach Kevin Nickelberry. LSU hasn’t been back to the tournament since.

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McMahon’s future with LSU had been on tenuous footing since LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry had told the Baton Rouge Advocate that he’d re-evaluate the program if the Tigers didn’t make the tournament. Wade had been speculated as a likely replacement, especially as the school hired Dr. Wade Rousse as its new president.

Rousse was hired in November of 2025 from McNeese, where he was the president when Wade was in charge of the Cowboys’ basketball team. McNeese hired Wade ahead of the 2023-24 season and he led the Cowboys to NCAA tournament appearances in each of his two seasons there before heading to NC State.

Wade had to serve a 10-game suspension at the start of his McNeese tenure because of NCAA penalties regarding the FBI investigation. He was also given a two-year show-cause penalty.

McMahon was the coach at Murray State for seven seasons before he was hired at LSU. The Racers went 31-3 in his final season with the program as he was the Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year. Murray State earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament that season and beat No. 10 San Francisco in the first round before losing to No. 15 Saint Peter’s.