A Wild Week at McNeese

By Jim Gazzolo

It was a wild week at McNeese athletics, from busting brackets to breaking websites.

Maybe the wildest of all time.

There were also a couple of coach hirings and one special guy leaving, all in the space of seven days. 

Those seven days likely changed the university forever or jump-started it to a higher level.

“It was really something,” said McNeese President Dr. Wade Rousse. “It was some week.”

What began in Providence, R.I., on March 20 came full circle this past Wednesday when everybody returned to campus in Lake Charles.

Let’s begin with the highest of historic highs. For the first time ever, McNeese won an NCAA Tournament game in basketball on the Division I level. It was a huge upset that set off a wild celebration in both Providence and back home. The Cowboys broke more than a few tourney brackets with their 69-67 victory over 12th-ranked Clemson in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

However, before they could leave the floor, reports of head coach Will Wade accepting a new job at North Carolina State surfaced. As rumors and reports flew wildly, McNeese manager Amir Khan’s stock rose nationally.

A video of Khan leading the Cowboys onto the court, like he did for every game, with a boom box around his neck and music blaring, went viral. It turned the unassuming Khan into a social media sensation and the darling of the tournament’s first weekend.

All this took place as Athletic Director Heath Schroyer tried to finalize the hiring a new women’s basketball coach and control talk of Wade’s departure.

“It was stressful,” said Schroyer. “A lot of things were going on at one time.”

On Saturday, reality set in, and Purdue, also in Providence, knocked McNeese out of the second round with a 76-62 win.

After the loss, Wade admitted that he had signed a six-year deal with N.C. State for a reported $18 million. McNeese would get $1 million from the Wolfpack as a buyout.

Meanwhile, the school announced earlier that day that it had hired—poached for like it—Ayla Guzzardo as its new women’s head coach and would hold a press conference on Monday.

Guzzardo was the head coach at Southeastern, which won the Southland Conference with a 19-1 record. She will likely bring a good portion of her championship team to town to make matters worse for SELA.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Wade was introduced officially as the head coach at N.C. State. 

Not to be outdone, McNeese announced that it also had a new men’s coach, naming former Wade assistant Bill Armstrong to the top job.

Armstrong was at LSU with Wade. He was most recently an assistant at Baylor. 

Schroyer flew Armstrong and his wife into Lake Charles Tuesday evening, where the McNeese band and fans met him. Armstrong vowed to keep the ball rolling at McNeese, which in two years under Wade went 58-11. 

It wasn’t that long ago that McNeese would be happy just making the Southland Conference Tournament. Five years before Wade’s arrival, the Cowboys had won just 56 games. 

Of course, Wednesday Armstrong needed his press conference and big showing, which took place in the Legacy Center and included all the pomp and circumstance you could imagine. 

Short of a red carpet, the welcome mat was out. Even Rowdy showed up on time.

All the while, McNeese State was getting all sorts of attention on social media. 

Yes, it was a long week.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese athletics. He is the host of Poke Nation on CBS-Lake Charles.