Already an intramural legend at McNeese State and a favorite of the basketball team, Amir Khan has become an overnight sensation in college basketball.

A video showing Khan leading the Cowboys to the floor before last Saturday’s home game went viral, making the team manager instantly famous.

Over the past few days, the school has received interview requests from all over the nation for Khan, who lets his humorous personality show at every turn.

“I never would have thought this would happen,” said Khan. “It is surprising.”

The attention for Khan became so great that McNeese held a press conference for him Wednesday.

“I never have had media requests for a team manager before,” McNeese Sports Information Director Matt Bonnette said. “It is amazing to see all the people who want to talk with him.”

The Cowboys are 23-6 and have clinched their second straight Southland Conference regular-season championship. Yet the breakout star is a short but funny senior who is quick with one-liners. When asked about his job with the Cowboys, Khan didn’t miss a beat.

“If they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court, I’d put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers,” he said.

Those words have already made their way to the back of T-shirts that feature Khan.

In the now-famous video, which McNeese’s PJ Mitchell originally posted, Khan leads the players through the tunnel from the locker room to the court in the Legacy Center, as he has done for the last two years. With rap music blaring, the manager lip-sings the words while the players follow, joining him. 

“It is great to see this for Amir,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “He is awesome. He’s a great kid and a really good person. I’m happy for him.

“All our managers work hard. They are up early, working with players, and staying late to do laundry. They are a big part of our success.”

A Barbe High graduate, Khan said he was a Wade fan when the coach was at LSU. When he took over at McNeese, Khan and a couple of friends wanted to work with him.

“I was a huge fan of LSU when coach Wade was there, so to have a chance to work with him was a no-brainer,” said Khan.

Now, he has upstaged his coach, at least for this week.

But Khan’s story isn’t just about the video. He is considered a surprisingly good long-range shooter on his intramural team called the Bomb Squad. 

“I think the other teams underrate us,” said Khan. “A lot of the team looks like me, and the other teams think we can’t hoop. I take pride in that and surprise them.”

Khan has also thrown his share of touchdown passes for their intramural football team. 

As for all the attention, he is taking it in stride.

“It hasn’t affected my day-to-day; I’m still doing the same things,” said Khan. 

He said his social media account has blown up, but is trying to stay off it.

“That’s not good for my head,” Khan said. 

But he’s been good for McNeese, and Khan became a star this week.