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Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
LSU is hiring Sacramento State head coach David Patrick as Matt McMahon’s associate head coach, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
It will be Patrick’s second stint in Baton Rouge after serving on Johnny Jones’ staff from 2012 to 2016.
Patrick has served as head coach at Sacramento State for the last two seasons, going 14-18 in 2022-23 and 10-24 last season.
Patrick, the godfather of former LSU star and current Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons, has long been considered one of the best recruiters in the country from his time as an assistant coach at Saint Mary’s, LSU, TCU, Arkansas and Oklahoma. In addition to his two seasons at Sacramento State, Patrick was also the head coach at UC Riverside from 2018 to 2020.
He’s also been an assistant coach for the Australian National Team since 2019 and will be on their staff for the Olympics in Paris this summer.
Patrick is LSU’s second new assistant coach this spring, following McMahon’s hire of Jalen Courtney-Williams from Creighton last month.
McMahon has been in charge of LSU since 2022, after seven seasons as head coach at Murray State. The Tigers struggled in his first season with a rebuilt roster, but finished tied for seventh in the SEC last season and reached the NIT.
LSU is welcoming three ESPN 100 prospects next season, led by top-50 recruits Curtis Givens and Vyctorius Miller, as well as impact transfers Jordan Sears (UT Martin) and Cam Carter (Kansas State).
Patrick becomes the sixth Division-I head coach to leave for an assistant job this spring, and the second this month after Wyoming‘s Jeff Linder left to join Grant McCasland’s staff at Texas Tech.