McNeese Athletics Fires Men’s Basketball Head Coach

KPLC reported Wednesday, March 8, that McNeese Athletics fired the men’s basketball head coach John Aiken and his entire coaching staff. MSU made the initial announcement via a press release Wednesday morning. Cowboys Athletic Director, Heath Schroyer, said at press time, “This is a really hard day for me personally,” he continued, “John is a dear friend and a damn good basketball coach. I know John extremely well, and I have no doubt he will bounce back, get another opportunity and be successful as a head coach in the future.”

MSU's men's basketball team had a rather disappointing regular season, tying their record for losses with 22 for a season closeout of 9-22. The Cowboys wrapped up the conference at 6-12 but still managed to rank 8th seed in the Southland Conference Tournament.

On Sunday, McNeese went head-to-head with Texas A&M-Commerce and pulled off a win in the first round 79-78. On Monday, they kept the momentum and scored another win after taking on Nicholls State, beating them 77-71. For the first time in 11 years, the Polks advanced to the semi-finals and made history by becoming the first 8th-place team to do so. Sadly MSU's season ended when they played Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the semi-finals losing 80-63.

Aiken was an assistant coach for the Cowboys from 2018-2021 before making head coach ahead of the 2021-2022 season. In two years as the Cowboys’ Aiken finishes as MSU head coach with an overall record of 22-45 after two seasons with a conference record of 10-22. His Southland Conference Tournament record is .500, winning three of his five games.

According to KPLC News, in the history of McNeese men's basketball, Aiken is the eleventh head coach over the program and the third in the past four years. The search for head coach number twelve is already underway. Watch your local news for more details on this developing story.