McNeese’s Manager Amir Khan: It should’ve been me

Just ahead of the 2025 Men’s March Madness Tournament, a video featuring the McNeese State University men’s basketball team rapping along to “In & Out” by Lud Foe — lead by their boombox-carrying student manager Amir Khan — went viral and was seen by millions.

After the video circulated widely, McNeese earned a March Madness spot by winning the Southland Conference and entered the tournament as a 12 seed. 

Khan’s fame exploded. In McNeese’s first tournament matchup against Clemson University, McNeese cheerleaders wore socks with Khan’s face on them. 

After defeating Clemson and advancing to the second round against Purdue University, Khan walked out of the tunnel with his team and boombox yet again, this time sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings. Completing the scene was Khan’s custom Under Armour sweat suit adorned with his fan-given nickname on the back — “Aura.” 

Despite McNeese losing to Purdue, Khan racked up several Name, Image and Likeness deals for himself. Some marketing deals even reached six-figure highs, with Buffalo Wild Wings, TickPick and Insomnia Cookies being just a few to get in on the action 

While many have seen the videos and jokes that have come from Khan’s fame, all I see is red. 

Despite moonlighting as a writer for The Phoenix, I’ve been a student manager for the Loyola women’s basketball team for three years and have no six-figure deals to speak of.

In early June 2022, I emailed assistant coach Marsha Frese to inquire about the position. Within  90 minutes, I got a response for an interview with then Director of Basketball Operations Abi Scheid. The over-the-phone interview didn’t go how I imagined.  

She began by asking me to describe my experience with basketball, and I told her I’d attempted to play basketball in middle school but was forced to quit due to my lack of skill on the court. 

At one point, I was asked what other on-campus activities I was involved in at the time to gauge my availability for daily practices and away-game travel. I told her I’d luckily never left my dorm room during my first year, so this would be the first and only organization I’d be involved in. 

Even though I was dead serious, both answers elicited audible chuckling from her side of the phone. And to my surprise, I ended up with the job.

In the three years I’ve been with the team, my contributions, while just as essential as Khan’s, have gone completely unnoticed and unappreciated by corporate sponsors like Buffalo Wild Wings.

Similar to Khan, my time in practice and on game days consists of rebounding, running film, wiping courts, working the clock, filling up water bottles, setting out chairs, picking up food, hanging up jerseys and making spreadsheets.

Unlike Khan, my time with the team hasn’t resulted in over $100 thousand in sponsorships and NIL deals, which isn’t to say the other managers and I haven’t tried. 

Since 2022, we’ve had a manager’s TikTok page where we’ve made several videos consisting mainly of game day vlogs but also the occasional trend. Despite the time and effort, our page seems to only be appreciated by the players and coaching staff. 

All in all, I can’t help but wonder if it could’ve been me with national fame, a custom tracksuit and thousands of dollars in NIL deals if we had made it to the NCAA Tournament. At the end of the day, Khan’s rise to fame is a feel-good story for managers everywhere. 

Some people don’t think about the work that goes into their favorite college teams, but Kahn’s popularity led many to wonder who’s behind their own team.