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Much of the athletic department is still the same. The difference from 2022 is the BOS, President, and Governor. They were the ones who made this move and essentially told the department either get over it, or we’ll get you out. Just like they did with Woodward.

It’s not an overly popular move within the department. That’s why the political muscle brought in basically an AD for Wade alone. The only person in the department who has more power than Wade is Kiffin. And that’s only because he is the football coach. Wade has the top political support behind him.

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By and large I have stayed out of the MBB discussions on this board, so the idea that you think I’m parroting talking points is laughable. I wouldn’t even know what the talking points are to be able to parrot them. The SEC is stronger now than during Wade’s first tenure. That’s not even debatable. More SEC teams are well-funded now than before. There’s no direct evidence of that since most cheating programs were better at hiding it, but the results on the court certainly suggest that is the case.

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What has improved the SEC is not better funding. It's what ALWAYS improves programs. Better coaching. That goes for football too. Look at Indiana. Did they one day decide after 100 years of being one of the worst programs in America they were going to dump an unprecedented amount of money into building a championship football program? No. They hired the right HC....then EVERYTHING else flowed from that. Go back to the SEC in 2018-2019 in basketball. The same year LSU signed Ried, Smart, Williams, Days, Vanderbilt signed 3 top 40 players. LSU won the SEC. Vandy went 0-18 in the league. Why such a discrepancy? Coaching!

When Wade was last in the SEC the league had Pearl, Oats, Cal (Kentucky), Barnes, Buzz Williams, then a collection of mediocre guys. Now he returns to Oats, Golden, Byington, Cal (Arkansas), Barnes, Beard, Miller, etc

The improved coaching, overall, is going to make it a battle. But it won't be a funding discrepancy that determines the outcome. Otherwise, Kentucky would be playing today/tomorrow for a trip to the Final Four rather than being ridiculously lucky to make it out of the first round.

LSU will have a good enough roster to compete. But here's the reality. They've had a good enough roster to compete for FOUR years! No, that doesn't mean the roster was Final Four good, or anywhere close. But good enough to be far better than worst in the league. The reason it was worst in the league is because it had the worst coach in the league. Wade is not that.

For FOUR years we've had to listen to every excuse under the sun explaining why LSU has been so bad, all while ignoring the actual problem stoically staring you in the face on the sideline. LSU has finally stopped fruitlessly treating the "symptoms" and addressed the actual root cause. I'm not going to predict LSU is a Final Four team, or even a Sweet 16 team next year. But I am 100% confident the results will be VASTLY different from the last 4 seasons. Not because Wade is or is not a better "cheater". Not because Wade will generate more NIL. But because LSU has finally dropped the anchor that drug this program to the deep abyss of losing and irrelevance

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Something more than dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble...... ISO, shoot, one and done, rinse and repeat.

A little ball movement would be nice.

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You don't get extra credit for the amount of passes you make, nor an assist on a made basket. Ask Minnesota. They led the nation this year in highest rate of assists per made basket. They finished 15-17 with the 85th rank offense

Putting the ball in the basket and not turning it over are the two most important things. Until 2022, Wade's LSU teams did that better than 90% of the country. This year NC State was the 23rd most efficient offense.

Offense has RARELY been the issue for Wade. It's more often been the defense...which has generally made his team imbalanced...which is why there has been a cap on the success. Balance is the key to greatness. Look at the 8 teams still playing. They are ALL ranked in the top 40 on offense and defense.

To his credit, McMahon recognized balance was key. And his LSU teams were, in fact, often balanced. Unfortunately, that balance was they sucked equally on BOTH ends of the floor.

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I think we will be one of the top 3 programs in the sec, which puts us somewhere between a tournament team and final four team consistently. That’s not really opinion, either. Just look at the facts: Wade’s SEC teams were consistently elite, finishing with the second-most league wins (48) in his final four seasons (2019-2022).

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I'm bullish on Wade, but that is a high bar right out of the gate. Looking at the last three years that would require LSU going 13-5 in SEC play.

That said, I do see the path. Right now Florida and Alabama appear to be the consistent standard, with Tennessee just a slight notch behind. After that, there are a few programs that seem to slot into the next group (Vandy, Kentucky, Arkansas). I don't see LSU in Florida and Alabama's class right out of the gate (though anything is possible with roster turnover). Tennessee has been consistently good, but Wade seemed to have Barnes' number (4-1 after 2018).

It would be nice to see UNC do LSU a favor and remove Golden or Oats from the SEC. Pearl is gone. Barnes may not be far behind. Cal is inconsistent. Kentucky wants to excommunicate it's Pope

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I just hope he brings a more structured offense this time.

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What does this even mean?

These were LSU's offensive efficiency rankings under Wade NATIONALLY

2018 - 33rd
2019 - 12th
2020 - 4th
2021 - 5th
2022 - 89th

That's ONE season out of 5 his team wasn't in the top 10% of offenses in the entire nation. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, LSU was in the top 15 of the NATION in points per game.

That's why when anyone criticizes his offenses at LSU they IMMEDIATELY send out a signal they have ZERO clue what they are talking about. It was his team's lack of defense that kept them from reaching greater heights...except in 2022 when that flipped (LSU was top 5 in defensive efficiency)

So let me revise the statement for you:

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I just hope he brings as good an offense this time.

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At the end of the day, sports are entertainment for fans and supposed to be fun.

LSU fans have now gone from butthole Brian Kelly and the most boring guy in the world in McMahon to two guys with personality and attitude

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When Wade's team makes it past the first round of the SEC tournament and into the first round of the NCAA tournament, without violating University or NCAA rules, come back. Until then, go away.

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What about when he takes a team from the Southland conference and beats an ACC team that went 18-2 in ACC play in the NCAA Tournament



The Wade haters are a pretty sad bunch. Imagine your only argument being that "he hasn't made it past the second round" when (A) he was only allowed to coach in one NCAA Tournament and (b) even his one NCAA Tournament win matched the total of NCAA tournament wins by Johnson, Jones, and McMahon...COMBINED!

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What is the NIL budget? I have not seen a number yet.

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There is no budget. There's no limit on what donors can give in NIL deals. That's the falsehood that the bozos who constantly claimed poor ole McMahon never had any money constantly missed. It wasn't "LSU" sole job to shake the money tree. It was McMahon's...and he didn't want to do it.

Wade will. Wade did it immediately the first time he was here. He did it immediately in LC when he got the McNeese job. There are a lot of LC people who never supported McNeese sports in great numbers before who started given more because Wade made and cultivated those relationships.

The good thing is that LSU and McNeese are so far apart on the level of competition that you have a lot of people in SW Louisiana who are both McNeese AND LSU fans. People who may have gone to McNeese, but have football season tickets for LSU and donate to both schools.

Wade will unlock the revenue streams. McMahon passed out donuts once a year.

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As usual they’re wrong. He was told the situation Sunday

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I suspect he was probably told on Sunday it appeared Wade was going to accept the offer. However, I'm willing to bet he was informed of LSU's plan to pursue Wade well before Sunday and that McMahon's future at LSU was contingent on Wade's decision. Why wouldn't LSU tell him? McMahon has no leverage. What was he going to do? Get angry and go seek the major conf. offer that doesn't exist or the mid-major job that would pay him FAR less than if he just got fired by LSU? LSU would have been thrilled if McMahon left on his own account. In that sense the refrigerator would have fixed itself and LSU wouldn't have to pay a buyout to a guy they didn't want to be their coach anyway.

Is it a good feeling knowing your employer is active looking to replace you? Probably not. Though it helps knowing that if they did they would owe you ~$10M. But if you don't want that feeling, create value. You don't do that by going 60-70 (17-55).

In the end it works out well for everyone except the diligent few on here who believed McMahon was on the cusp of greatness...despite not even being able to see greatness for 4 years. Matt gets to leave a place where he wasn't wanted anymore and had little chance to succeed with a huge sum of money in his pocket. Wade gets to come back to a place he never wanted to leave to work in a new environment with a friendly administration. The fans get the guy back who they didn't want to leave and can now feel optimistic for the first time in 4 years after a period of irrelevance.

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LSU fans are the worse and downvote me away but nothing I said is false

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This is every major college with a passionate fanbase.

Step out of your bubble

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We aren’t in the business of pleasing our competition

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This is ALL that needs to be said.

It wasn't LSU's responsibility to accommodate their competitor, Ole Miss by not being a distraction during a CFP run...even though LSU was actually willing to accommodate Ole Miss.

It wasn't LSU's responsibility to avoid forcing NC State back into a coaching search a year later.

And it isn't LSU's responsibility to make Alabama, or NC State, or Ole Miss fans like LSU. The only responsibility LSU owes is to IT'S customers (fans)