re: MBB Offseason '26 Transfer Portal / HS Tracker

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I notice you didn't address my comments about the timeline in my earlier post. I assume you agreed, but would be interested in your view .

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Sure

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You are ignoring th timeline and distorting the picture. First, when McMahon was hired the NCAA charges were hanging over basketball and football. You damn well know Woodward told him to avoid any action that might bring more NCAA scrutiny, More importantly NIL was not the wild west open checkbooks the first couple of years, it was essentially endorsements for Canes and Get Gordon etc.

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Despite all of that McMahon signed what was ranked as a top-20 class ahead of Year 1. Many outsiders felt that the roster and McMahon based upon his success the previous season at Murray State could potentially compete for an NCAA Tournament spot. Based upon the assessment of the roster LSU was picked to finish in the middle of the league (the highest they were ever picked under McMahon). Some "bracketologist" had LSU in their preseason NCAA Tournament predictions.....then he lost 13 of his first 14 SEC games, 2-16 overall, and didn't look like he had a clue of how to compete in the SEC. It was a pattern that would be repeated multiple times.

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Thus, there was no impetus for a lot of fund raising by the coach. Wade didn't do a lot of that his first stint either.

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Wade actually did a LOT of that in his first stint. You just didn't hear about much about it because NIL wasn't a thing and fundraising was kept quiet. But that 18-19 recruiting class didn't "just happen", nor did Wade pay for it himself. He fundraised his arse off the summer before his first season. He spoke to any and every group/business in Louisiana who would have him. And it wasn't in hopes of persuading 5 middle schoolers from Monroe to attend a game vs. UNO. Where do you think the money for the "strong arse offers" came from? Its many of the same people who are funding the NIL now...it just wasn't in the open then. Or are you under the impression buying blue chip recruits didn't happen until 2021? The donor relationships Wade has now we're built in the summers of 2017 and 2018 to pay for the 2019 SEC Championship team.

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McMahon had none of that and he is not a big back slapping hail fellow well met person.

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McMahon was overwhelmed from literally day 1. Go back and find the in-game thread for his introductory press conference. He didn't generate much confidence and excitement. He largely just spoke in banal platitudes and looked uncomfortable...which we would, unfortunately, come to see as the norm for the next 4 years. He did not want to recruit and he didn't want to fundraise. He left that to his assistants. When that didn't work out, he brought in David Patrick, at the urging of others in the program to try to do the job McMahon didn't want to do. When your HC doesn't want to recruit, doesn't want to fundraise, and can't outcoach the competition, you get a career 24% SEC winning percentage over the course of 70+ games. That doesn't just happen by accident.

As to the timeline of relevant events, I've given it to you over and over. Why would LSU, in mid February, in the midst of another awful season, suddenly have a football recruiting reporter pen an article saying LSU was keeping McMahon and excusing the constant losing by saying, without any support, McMahon had no money? The NIL commitments are made well BEFORE the season. So if LSU was on the low end of the monetary spectrum that would have been known in July, August, September, October. Yet, that "info" didn't get reported until February...with fans rightfully wondering how long LSU was going to keep a HC who had done nothing but lose for three years.

The timing was because behind the scenes Tate and Woodward were getting political pressure to rehire Wade from McNeese...something they were simply unwilling to do. The easiest way to quell that pressure was to not have the LSU basketball job available. So that's what they did. Announce, through friendly media, McMahon was returning for year 4 to get fans/booster/politicos to stop pushing for Wade. Of course, from the outside news that a coach who, at that time, was 11-35 in SEC would be returning for another year wouldn't be all that well received by the customer base. So they had to buttress it with some reason they were keeping McMahon because they could not tell you the real reason - they refused to rehire Wade and didn't want fan pressure to do so if they fired McMahon. That excuse was the "lack of money" BS.

Credit to Tate and Woodward. It clearly worked to some degree as we STILL to this day have some people McMahon's record was byproduct of unfortunate circumstances rather than simply being inadequate HC.