Stephen Waguespack

19 years ago, a high school basketball coach put his team manager into a game for the final four minutes. The kid had never played a single minute of competitive basketball in his life. He scored 20 points. Jason McElwain was diagnosed with severe autism at age two. He didn’t speak until he was five. He couldn’t chew solid food until he was six. He wore a nappy for most of his early childhood. As a baby, he was rigid, wouldn’t make eye contact, and hid in corners away from other children. He tried out for his school basketball team every year and got cut every time. Too small. Too slight. Barely 5’6 and about 54 kilograms. But he loved the game so much that his mum called the school and asked if there was any way he could be involved. The coach created a team manager role for him. For three years, McElwain showed up to every practice and every game. He wore a shirt and tie on match days. He ran drills, handed out water, kept stats, and cheered every basket like he’d scored it himself. On 15 February 2006, the last home game of his final school year, the coach let him suit up in a proper jersey and sit on the bench. With four minutes left and a comfortable lead, the coach sent him in. His first shot missed. His second missed. Then something shifted. He hit a three-pointer. Then another. Then another. His teammates stopped shooting entirely and just kept passing him the ball. He hit six three-pointers and a two-pointer. 20 points in four minutes. The highest scorer in the game. When the final buzzer went, the entire crowd rushed the court and lifted him onto their shoulders. His mum tapped the coach on the shoulder, in tears. “This is the nicest gift you could have ever given my son.” McElwain won the ESPY Award for Best Moment in Sports that year, beating out some of the biggest names in professional sport. He’s 36 now. He works at a local supermarket, coaches basketball, has run 17 marathons including five Boston Marathons, and travels the country speaking about never giving up. When asked about that night, his coach still gets emotional. “For him to come in and seize the moment like he did was certainly more than I ever expected. I was an emotional wreck.”

LSU walk-on Izzy Besselman hasn't played in a game since March 2024 due to a unique heart condition. Coach Kim Mulkey made sure to get her on the court for her senior night 💜

We need Kalen DeBoer to leave for Michigan and then Lane Kiffin to leave LSU for Alabama before he coaches a game to really take the insanity to the next level.

LSU's new president Wade Rousse made the decision to elevate Verge Ausberry to full-time AD, and a formal announcement is expected in the coming days.

LSU interim coach Frank Wilson III asked why the program and this opportunity means so much: "I was a head coach at another university in this state. I left that university as the head coach to come back here, right? And I chose to, I chose to come back here because it's a very, very unique place that there's no place like LSU. "I've worked at universities in this conference around this country, and there's something about the people here. And so when you speak of LSU, you can talk about the beautiful stadium — the pantheon, the concrete. This beautiful facility that we're in. "But LSU's not bricks and mortar. It's the people. It's the people that make LSU what it is. And we live and we thrive in a people society that as we evoke into relationships, it cuts deep. And so it's totally different than another school where you just go to work. "You become a part of it. It becomes a part of you. And it's the people in this building, it's the people in this community, it's the people in this state that gravitates, that pulls you in. And it's why we say, 'Forever LSU,' because it's not just a job — for me, for many."