Wake Forest Basketball: 5 candidates to replace head coach Danny Manning
By Joey Loose
5. Matt McMahon (Murray State)
As an ACC team, there has certainly been talent at Wake Forest in recent years, though it hasn’t risen to the level of the programs around them. Long gone are the days of Tim Duncan or Chris Paul leading this team to the NCAA Tournament. The reason McMahon stands out was his ability to bring and hone an incredible talent like Ja Morant to Murray State.
A result of playing and coaching under Buzz Peterson at multiple schools, McMahon has plenty of experience in the state of North Carolina. He played guard at Appalachian State before spending nearly a decade coaching at the school. His graduate assistant years with Tennessee give him a small taste of power conference experience, while the last nine years (five as head coach) have been spent successfully with Murray State.
McMahon’s coaching record sits at 110-51, with a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances with Morant on the roster. The program continues to be one of the bright spots of the OVC, with the Racers nearly pulling off a third straight OVC Tournament title this past March. There’s no guarantee that McMahon will find another diamond like Morant, but the resources at Wake Forest will certainly alleviate this process. How he handles transitioning from the OVC to ACC would be intriguing, but past Murray State head coaches like Mick Cronin and Steve Prohm have had success at the higher level. Perhaps McMahon is the latest Racer coach to make the jump.