JR Hamilsbach

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The media reported earlier that neither he or his staff were told they were being fired until Wade's plane was in the air coming back.

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I’m following closely, but am sauceless. I read that McMahon was told the day before and he asked LSU for time to tel his family and staff before it was announced and LSU respected that request.

We’re both obviously biased in different directions so we are both at risk of confirmation bias clouding or perspective of what actually transpired.

If things do fall through with Wade, not good for McMahon for allegedly running it back one final season and hope. If roster turns over and Wade doesn’t come, it now seems obvious you have to pivot to someone else.

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If lightning does strike though, and Wade returns, what are reasonable expectations for his (second) first year?

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Wade pulls off his biggest recruitment heist ever and retains McMahon as his assistant coach. McMahon goes down as a cult hero for being the bigger person. Roster cohesion.

Wade teaches McMahon how to coach basketball. McMahon rehabs his basketball coaching rep as national champion associate head coach. He helps Wade go full keto. Wade fully shredded by summer 2027 following national championship run. Win win win.

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I’ve come to the realization that we are stuck with MM for one more year.

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I can’t say with certainty that we are or are not. The behavior of the AD is much different this year v last. By sweet 16 time last year, he had already been told that LSU had not supported McMahon enough and that NIL would be increased and he would be back to coach again.

This year, Verge previously stated making the tournament was the floor expectation. Since the disastrous end to the season, same as year before, the AD has stated nothing.

LSU has been very silent as has NCSt and Wade. If McMahon is your guy, you act like LSU AD acted last year considering there has been no public vote of confidence or signal for future direction of program with the portal opening in a few weeks.

McMahon very well could return for what I expect would be another uninspiring season that is everyone else’s fault but his according to some, but I don’t think it’s guaranteed based on significantly different behavior from the AD.

Obviously. You’d be hard pressed to do much worse. What’s the floor at LSU with our ooc schedule? Where we’re at now? Close but slightly under .500. If you went 0-fer in conferences and dropped some gimmes is 10 wins with our schedule as absolutely putrid as LSU could possibly be? We’re never losing every game especially with a cupcake non conference schedule.

So under McMahon, we’re 3-4 games above the absolute floor of the shittiest the program could be possibly be the past two seasons? And we’re thinking about coming back for more?

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I do think there was also a bit of concern that should LSU have made a run to, at least, the second week, Woodward would have faced the same rage Alleva did when he suspended Wade just before the Vandy game in 2019.

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100%.

It was the most selfish and cowardly act imaginable to handle it the way he did trying to avoid a tougher situation or be unable to do what he wanted so instead he sabotaged that team and shat all over us. I loathe Scott Woodward.

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The reality is this. No LSU basketball fan rejects the idea of Wade returning. The rejection comes from people who (a) aren't really basketball fans (same as I'm not really a big baseball fan, so I don't really passionately care about coaching changes there) and/or (b) hate the people who gush hyperbolically about Wade, not actually Wade himself.

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I suspect also some degree of sophomoric virtue signalling not appreciating the nuance of the complicated nature of basketball and the longstanding underhanded dealings associated with success. Wade bad bc he’s a cheater while excusing or ignoring same behavior in others.

As an observer here more than regular participant, there also appears to be some weird loyalty and turf war over who is calling shots in LSU basketball and that faction seem to be vehemently opposed to all things Wade. Both make sense considering the support for McMahon can’t be based on performance since objectively he’s the biggest losingest coach at LSU all time so support has to be emotional or ulterior in some capacity.

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Bama for example made 9 million.

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They grossed 24 million and netted 9 million just to be explicitly clear opportunity cost of sucking again next year.

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So you’re saying that LSU’s hopes are riding on hope that once again, WW will be one and done in the tourney?

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Will Wade is a solid NCAA Tournament coach when he actually gets to coach the games.

In the 6 tournaments he's led on the bench (VCU 2016 & 2017, LSU 2021, McNeese 2024 & 2025, NC State 2026), his teams are 4-5 in 9 games played so far. That record matches—or beats—what you'd expect from their seeds, which have mostly been 8 through 12 (underdogs). He pulled off real upsets: a 10 beating a 7, an 8 beating a 9, and a 12 beating a 5 (first NCAA win ever for McNeese). He's gotten to the Round of 32 three times with those kinds of seeds.


The only Sweet 16 run (LSU 2019) happened while he was suspended and couldn't coach. The bad first-round loss as a favorite (LSU 2022) also came after he was fired. When he's not there, the teams have underperformed expectations.

Wade qualifies teams consistently and gets the most out of low seeds when he's allowed to lead them. The "bad coach in March" talk comes from off-court drama and missing games—not from what happens when he's actually coaching. He's proven he belongs in the tournament.

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I still haven't gotten a straight answer on what the point is of spending 10's of millions of dollars on a program that is, at best, fourth fiddle at LSU. I love basketball, but if you're not going to fund it to be competitive nationally, just save the money and put it towards football and baseball.

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Considering only Football and Men’s Basketball are able to be financially profitable, doing everything possible to turn a profit in those two sports is obvious. Sunk cost for women’s basketball is offset by national exposure so you could argue it’s worth the cost. Opting out of exploring every opportunity to make significant money in Men’s Basketball should be the move over waiving the white flag and prioritize minimizing losses when you could actually make money and promote the university in a meaningful manner. Being uber terrible at Men’s Basketball reflects poorly on the institution. You should avoid tarnishing the name brand at all cost too.

Why is LSU punishing hardcore fans with two decades of irrelevance and they fire the only non dud in 20 years? McMahon needs to be fired this week. He’s had 4 years of suck. How big of a sample do you need at the expense of true fans?