Matt McMahon Details Process Behind Building Tigers Roster, Year One Expectations

McMahon joined The College Hoops Podcast with Jon Rothstein to talk his transition to LSU

When LSU head basketball coach Matt McMahon accepted the Tigers job, he entered a program facing tremendous uncertainty. He needed to developed from scratch and build a coaching staff of people who believed in his vision.

Departing a Murray State program fresh off of a 31-win season and an NCAA Tournament berth, it raised eyebrows on why he would leave a spot where he was seemingly just scratching the surface.

Though McMahon believed in the product LSU is and how he knew he could get this team back to the standard they are. The Tigers sell themselves and the chance to play for such a program is a privilege in itself and McMahon has made that very known during his recruiting pitch to prospects.

It is surely going his way thus far after reeling in the No. 9 transfer portal class in the country and a top-15 2022 recruiting class. McMahon joined The College Hoops Today podcast with Jon Rothstein this week to discuss the challenges he has faced since taking over the LSU program and how his transition has been to this point.

"It was really overwhelming,” McMahon said of taking the LSU job with zero players. “The combination of not really having a conclusion to the season at Murray State, winning 31 games, essentially being four minutes away from breaking through to the Sweet 16, the challenges of leaving and moving your family to a situation that you knew was going to be challenging but then to be sitting there with zero players on the roster was cause or concern.”

“Not to sound cliche about it, but the only way I knew about attacking the process was trying to methodically win some days. That started with building a staff. Thrilled with the people we were able to hire. Brought five members of our staff from Murray State. It’s not lost on me that’s also five wives and several children, so those moves impact a lot of people."

The plan McMahon set for his staff to build a roster was clear: Retain as much talent as possible on the current roster then begin filling the holes from there. In keeping Adam Miller, Justice Williams and Mwani Wilkinson, most considered that a win for the LSU program, including McMahon, but the work had just begun.

He wanted to bring in talent from his Murray State team. Players he felt could come in and give the Tigers a boost just as they had done for his Racers squad a season ago. Pairing his previous players with the returning Tigers set a solid foundation for this program.

“We were able to keep Adam Miller, Mwani Wilkinson and Justice Williams,” McMahon said. “Thrilled about those three guys being the foundation of our program. The second phase was we brought three players from Murray State in KJ Williams, Trae Hannibal and Justice Hill who really combined for more than 50% of our scoring for a 31-win team that was ranked in the Top 25 for the last 3 months of the season.”

McMahon attacked the transfer portal this offseason. Bringing in talent from a number of different conferences, it set the tone for what he can build in Baton Rouge. Adding three more players in Cam Hayes (N.C. State), Kendal Coleman (Northwestern State) and Derek Fountain (Mississippi State), the roster slowly began filling out, which put McMahon’s last phase in place to begin hitting the 2022 recruiting cycle with force.

Landing high-major prospects such as Tyrell Ward, Shawn Philips and Jalen Reed ultimately finished off his first recruiting class that immediately looks to be a team that can be competitive in the SEC. Going from zero scholarships to filling out a roster with a talented bunch happened quickly for McMahon.

“One of the many reasons I came to LSU is I think you can recruit the best players in the country here,” McMahon said. “We set out to quickly recruit the best available high school members in the class of 2022 and I think we were able to land some incredible talents in guys like Tyrell Ward, Jalen Reed, Shawn Phillips and Corneilous Williams."

Year 1 under McMahon is set to be a special season for LSU. A fresh chapter for the Tigers basketball program with a head coach who is looking at the bigger picture and playing the long-term game provides this squad with stability.

“I didn’t take this job for the short term,” McMahon said. “I want this to be a long-term program. It’s more about this summer and fall establishing our program, the processes for how we build our team. How we implement our player development program. The results and outcomes will take care of themselves."