Amir Khan became an internet and TV sensation for McNeese during the Cowboys’ two games in the NCAA tournament. However, with head coach Will Wade reportedly moving on to NC State, the student manager is expected to follow and take his “Aura” to Raleigh.
Wade reportedly agreed to become the Wolfpack’s new coach on Wednesday, just a couple of hours after he acknowledged during a press conference that he’d spoken with NC State ahead of McNeese’s first-round matchup with his alma mater Clemson. The Cowboys upset the Tigers on Thursday before losing Saturday’s second-round game to Purdue.
The coach and NC State have agreed to a six-year deal, reports CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. Khan is expected to join Wade in Raleigh as a graduate manager.
Khan following Wade to NC State probably shouldn’t be a surprise. He applied for a student manager position at McNeese because of his admiration for the coach, who he became a fan of while Wade was at LSU, according to the Associated Press.
Wade “brought an energy to that team that LSU basketball had never felt,” Khan told the AP’s Kyle Hightower. “So whenever I saw that I had a chance to work for him, I had to step in and do it.”
Now, Khan, nicknamed “Aura,” will step over to be a part of what NC State hopes is another turnaround by Wade, who’s been extraordinarily successful during his career as a college basketball head coach.
Khan is on pace to graduate from McNeese in the fall (with a degree in sports management), so it isn’t yet clear when he’ll join the NC State staff, nor what his role with the men’s basketball program will be. He told CBS Sports that he will “keep options open,” but knows he wants to be a graduate manager for a college basketball team.
The student manager became a social media sensation during the past week for walking with the team out of the tunnel holding a boom box playing rap songs and singing along to tracks like Lud Foe’s “In & Out.”
The clip of Khan leading the players to the court has drawn more than 250,000 views since it was posted to X by McNeese. Since then, Khan has created his own T-shirts and became the first student manager to earn a name, image and likeness deal, getting endorsement deals with Buffalo Wild Wings, TickPick and Insomnia Cookies.
McNeese special assistant Reed Vial told CBS Sports that he took 135 calls on Thursday and Friday regarding Khan’s NIL deals with hundreds of businesses wanting to ride his wave of popularity. During the weekend, Khan posed for photos with numerous fans, his face was on socks worn by McNeese cheerleaders and he even sat for a while next to filmmaker (and infamous New York Knicks fan) Spike Lee.
“Amir Khan, you are officially a pioneer,” Vial wrote on X when Khan signed his NIL deals. “In the wildest couple of weeks anyone could have, you’ve stayed so humble & true to yourself. First-ever college student manager to ink a NIL deal… 3 deals… all with global brands… in a week! Keep going. You deserve it all.”
Khan has already earned six figures in income from those NIL endorsement agreements, according to Vial.
Wade is expected to be officially announced as the Wolfpack’s new coach on Sunday. In two seasons at McNeese, he compiled a combined 57-10 record and 36-2 conference mark. During his 11-year coaching career, Wade has a .705 winning percentage (253-106), which includes stops at Chattanooga, VCU and LSU.
