A wild ride
Published 10:48 am Thursday, January 29, 2026
Manager had a year to remember
Just a year ago, Amir Khan was a relatively unknown manager of the McNeese State basketball team.
He worked tirelessly at his job, helping the Cowboys and hoping it could one day lead to a career in college basketball or sports in general.
He could become a coach or something in basketball operations. He even thought about a career in sports journalism or broadcasting.
His life was simple. He could walk around Lake Charles, his hometown, virtually unknown and in relative privacy.
One of his jobs at McNeese was to lead the team onto the floor while carrying a large boom box blaring music.
Before one particular big game late in the season, McNeese’s Creative Media Director Phillip Mitchell recorded Khan and the team as they walked from the locker room to the floor moments before a home contest.
It became a cute little local story until…Mitchell posted it on the internet.
Since that moment, Khan has been on a wild ride of fame that made him, for a moment, the breakout star not only of McNeese basketball but maybe the entire NCAA Tournament.
“I never would have thought any of this would have happened,” said Khan.
He received NIL offers from everywhere. Requests for interviews came from all angles. Local papers and television stations, even national morning shows, wanted to hear Khan’s story.
While the Cowboys were playing in the NCAA Tournament in Providence, Rhode Island, Khan held a mini-press conference attended by more media members than those at McNeese head coach Will Wade’s press conference.
He even met Spike Lee, the famous filmmaker and legendary basketball fan. Actually, it was more like Lee met Khan.
When asked what his last 12 months have been like, Khan was his typical humble self.
“Honestly, it’s hard to put into words,” Khan said. “I feel like I’m experiencing opportunities I never even dreamed about.”
Offers came from all over the country as well. Everybody wanted a piece of McNeese’s famous team manager.
“I have been very blessed by all this,” said Khan. “I got to meet people I never thought I would meet, and do things I never thought I would be able to do.”
Khan went to the Final Four, took part in the college slam dunk contest as former Cowboy Christian Shumate’s hype guy, not a contestant, and got to meet one of his favorite players ever, Chris Paul.
“I tried to play like him, but that didn’t work out so well,” said Khan. “He was really nice. Everybody has been real nice. I just tried to enjoy it, it didn’t feel real.”
After last year, Khan followed Wade to North Carolina State, hoping it might one day lead to a coaching GA job to start his career after graduation.
“I knew that staff so well, but it didn’t work out,” said Khan.
He left at the end of the semester. While an internet story said he left over NIL deals gone bad, the truth is much simpler. Khan said he would have lost too many college credits and would have been back to sophomore status if he had stayed with the Wolfpack.
And he missed home.
So he asked for a return to McNeese, where the Cowboys welcomed him with open arms.
“I really wanted to graduate from here,” Khan said. “It just feels more special down here. I’ve lived here all my life. My house is just five minutes from the arena.
One thing he is proud of is that all the attention he got put a spotlight on managers in general. Wade talked about that last year, and he would know; after all, he got his start as a student manager with the Clemson basketball team.
Things have slowed down for Khan now, but people still come up to him and talk about his adventures. That’s fine, but he’s happy to be back to being the McNeese manager who got the ride of a lifetime for a year.
“I don’t really understand why it happened to me,” said Khan. “But I’ll always remember it.”
He even has a few extra pairs of socks with his face on them to remind him.
