Started By
Message

Is McMahon the Curley Hallman of basketball?

Posted on 1/29/26 at 8:53 am
Posted by tlsu15
Capital of Texas
Member since Aug 2011
10519 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 8:53 am
He’s arguably the worst coach of the modern era. How would you rank him against Trent Johnson and Johnny Jones?
Posted by LSUfan2008
Louisiana
Member since Nov 2005
2664 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 8:56 am to
McHallman is far worse than either TJ or JJ. He will go down as one of the worst in SEC history.

Relative to other LSU sports, he is comparable to Curley Hallman.
Posted by Bert Macklin FBI
Quantico
Member since May 2013
11936 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 8:57 am to
Jones and Johnson each made the NCAA tournament
Posted by ProjectP2294
South St. Louis city
Member since May 2007
76204 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:00 am to
I was in the arena when Johnny Jones and several future pros got beat by Kim Anderson and Mizzou. The single worst basketball performance I've seen in person. LINK

I previously thought Kim Anderson was the worst coach in the modern era of the SEC.

I no longer think that. McMahon is worse than Anderson was.
Posted by LSUcajun77
New Orleans
Member since Nov 2008
24235 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:01 am to
He’s 15-47 in SEC play. He is by far the worst.
He’s pure garbage.
Posted by tarzana
TX Hwy 6-- the Brazos River Valley
Member since Sep 2015
31134 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:02 am to
quote:

Curley Hallman of basketball

That's elevating McMahon way above his achievement level on the court. He's more like the Dick Voris, or Jim Shofner of college basketball. The worst of the worst. And if he's allowed to finish the season he'll have a 4-season game record worse than either Tom Crean at Georgia, or Trent Johnson at TCU, or Mark Fox at Cal. He'll have the credentials to prove it.
This post was edited on 1/29/26 at 9:06 am
Posted by thunderbird1100
GSU Eagles fan
Member since Oct 2007
71761 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:07 am to
Is 16-50 against SEC teams really that bad



Unbelievable he still has a job
Posted by ellessuuuu
Member since Sep 2004
9206 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:08 am to
We had 14 spot drop in the NET overnight. I don't think I've ever seen drop that big in late January...

Warren Nolan now projects LSU to win 1 more game this year.

Yes, this is as bad as it can possibly get.
Posted by Slim
Poplarville, Mississippi
Member since Sep 2006
3029 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:10 am to
What is amazing to me is Kelly had a better winning percentage SEC record than Kelly and Kelly was fired, yet McMahon is still on the job.
Posted by Pelican fan99
Lafayette, Louisiana
Member since Jun 2013
39122 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:10 am to
There’s no comparison both TJ and JJ at least had their moments here. I can’t think of a single thing this guy has done here that’s been memorable

It’s been the worst 4 year stretch I’ve ever seen
Posted by tarzana
TX Hwy 6-- the Brazos River Valley
Member since Sep 2015
31134 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:15 am to
Mark Fox, the former Georgia coach, went 17-61 in Pac-12 play with the California Golden Bears in 4 seasons from 2019-2023. (.218 winning margin). If allowed to finish this season, on the team's current trajectory, McMahon will finish 16-61 in SEC play.

I say just do it! Frick Woodward
Posted by NIH
Member since Aug 2008
120888 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:16 am to
McMahon dealt with bad injury luck and every other team getting hot from 3 against LSU. Those guys didn’t. Don’t get Jim or Pirate started on the rims.
Posted by ellessuuuu
Member since Sep 2004
9206 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:16 am to
TJ won an SEC title and an NCCAT game.

JJ at least made an NCCAT, and was on the bubble for another berth.

MM's teams are not even competitive. And the "bad luck" narrative by the few ignorant MM supports is ridiculous. 70% of his conference losses are by double digits.
Posted by Lsuray70443
Independence
Member since Dec 2025
708 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:24 am to
Mike Archer was the worst football coach by far. He took over a top 5 program and ran it into the ground in short order with few SEC caliber players on the roster. With the schedule LSU played the next 4 years after Archer would have been tough even with Saban as coach. But Hallman was bad.
Trent Johnson was worse than McMahon. They both have similar personalities (none).
Posted by SofaKingTrill
Member since Mar 2008
8092 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:24 am to
quote:

He’s arguably the worst coach of the modern era. How would you rank him against Trent Johnson and Johnny Jones?


Trent Johnson won the SEC his first year atleast. Trent Johnson's SEC record was 25-39.

Johnny Jones made the NCAA tournament once and the NIT once. LSU received an invite to the NIT in his last year and declined it. His SEC record was 42-48.

Matt McMahon is worse than both with a 15-47 (0.242) SEC record. He has been awful and should have been fired last year. Instead, Scott Woodward decided to increase NIL funding to basketball and took a gamble. It was a terrible decision.
Posted by nicholastiger
Member since Jan 2004
54800 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 9:54 am to
Ja Morant put him on the map
Posted by LSUbasketballfan
Member since Jan 2021
564 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 10:13 am to
Trent Johnson and Matt McMahon are very comparable coaches. Trent took a perennial top 10 program at Stanford and made them average.


When he took over a loaded roster at LSU in 2008-09, he basically got out of the way and let Marcus Thornton, Garrett Temple, Tasmin Mitchell and Chris Johnson do their thing. He gets credit for that, but that’s it. After that he ran the program into the ground.

To this day I still don’t know why TCU hired him away from us. He went 8-64 in conference play at TCU.

A few years later, Cal St Northridge hired him and he went 7-29 in conference.

We actually improved every year under Johnny Jones until the Ben Simmons ordeal. Then the bottom fell out.

Matt McMahon and Trent Johnson are both all-time bad coaches.
Posted by chadr07
Pineville, Louisiana
Member since Jan 2015
13448 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 10:28 am to
No, McMahon is the McMahon of basketball. He’s been so terrible throughout his tenure here that now we will compare other bad coaches to McMahon. He is now the standard of shite show.
This post was edited on 1/29/26 at 10:30 am
Posted by dagrippa
Saigon
Member since Nov 2004
12166 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 10:33 am to
Its similar in that Favre made Hallman look better, Morant made McMahon look better.

We have to support the Basketball team without weakening Football and Baseball. I believe the guys in charge will get it done sooner than later.

Posted by LSUfan2008
Louisiana
Member since Nov 2005
2664 posts
Posted on 1/29/26 at 10:45 am to
quote:

Trent Johnson was worse than McMahon.

TJ won the SEC and made the tournament. It went downhill quickly after, but he can't be worse because he actually won something.
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 2Next pagelast page

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookXInstagram