Matt McMahon: 5 things to know about potential South Carolina basketball coach
South Carolina needs a new men’s basketball coach.
USC fired Frank Martin on Monday after 10 years guiding the program — including a run to the 2017 Final Four. So, who might replace him?
Murray State head coach Matt McMahon is one of the more sought-after coaches in this year’s hiring cycle. South Carolina ought to be interested.
McMahon led his Racers (32-2) to a 92-87 overtime win over San Francisco on Thursday in the NCAA tournament’s first round.
Here’s what you need to know about McMahon:
McMahon has geographic ties to the USC job
Older South Carolina fans might shudder at the mention of Murray State.
Former Gamecocks head coach Steve Newton came to Columbia in 1991 after six successful years guiding the Racers. He was fired at the conclusion of his second season at South Carolina with a 20-35 overall record.
Don’t let that affect your potential view of McMahon.
The former Appalachian State guard has plenty of familiarity with the Carolinas. He spent time as a student assistant and full-timer on staff at his alma mater. McMahon also coached at UNC-Wilmington under Charlotte Hornets assistant general manager Buzz Peterson.
He eventually left the area for a job on Steve Prohm’s staff at Murray State. When Prohm took the head coaching job at Iowa State, McMahon was elevated to head coach.
He recruited Ja Morant to Murray State
A quick Google search will find you this factoid.
McMahon’s most recent claim to fame was signing eventual No. 2 overall NBA Draft pick Ja Morant out of Crestwood High School in Sumter. Morant evolved into the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and led the nation in assists during his second season at Murray State.
The two-year partnership between McMahon and Morant included back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances and a 32-4 mark in OVC play.
McMahon’s work with Morant would likely play well with high school coaches in South Carolina.
McMahon has continued Racers’ success
Murray State has become a stalwart at the top of mid-major college basketball.
Mark Gottfried (N.C. State), Mick Cronin (Cincinnati), Billy Kennedy (Texas A&M) and Prohm all parlayed their successes with the Racers into major head coaching gigs since 1995.
McMahon has continued that track record. He owns two of the five second round NCAA tournament appearances in program history and has the most wins (124) of any Murray State head coach since 1975.
There is something to be said for inheriting a program that is already rolling, but McMahon has won plenty enough to justify his inclusion atop the college basketball coaching carousel.
Shane Beamer and McMahon go back a long time
The Shane Beamer experiment has worked out nicely for South Carolina so far. How about hiring one of his longtime friends as the men’s basketball coach?
Beamer and McMahon were both graduate assistants at Tennessee during the early 2000s. The two have remained friends since.
McMahon, like Beamer, is an effervescent personality that could breathe some life into a frustrated men’s basketball fan base that’s celebrated one total NCAA tournament appearance with its last two coaches.
Also of note, South Carolina senior deputy athletics director Chance Miller — who was heavily involved in the search that landed Beamer and is Ray Tanner’s de facto No. 2 — was an undergrad at Tennessee at the same time Beamer and McMahon were on staff.
There will be other suitors for McMahon
South Carolina won’t be the only school doing their due diligence on McMahon.
Louisville felt like a fit, but the Cardinals are expected to hire Kenny Payne from the New York Knicks. McMahon is also a conceivable option for the other four Southeastern Conference openings at Missouri, Florida, LSU and Mississippi State.
South Carolina likely can’t win a bidding war against LSU or Florida, but it has been willing to pay basketball coaches handsomely. Martin, for example, was paid $3.2 million annually — good for 28th nationally and eighth in the SEC according to USA Today’s coaching salary database.
The USC job should be far more attractive than it was when Martin was hired in 2012. A Final Four banner adds a level of “it can be done here” attitude to folks in Columbia will expect.
McMahon will have options, but the Gamecocks should be able to put themselves in the mix, if they so choose.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 9:11 AM with the headline "Matt McMahon: 5 things to know about potential South Carolina basketball coach."
