One of the biggest stars from men’s March Madness last year will be back for more.
It isn’t a player or a coach. It’s McNeese’s student manager, Amir “Aura” Khan, who went viral for escorting his players through the tunnel pregame while blasting rap music from a giant boombox slung around his neck.
Earlier this week, McNeese secured another bid to the men’s tournament after they upset Stephen F. Austin in the Southland conference tournament, meaning the Lake Charles, La., native will be returning to support the Cowboys through a second consecutive tournament berth. Khan was able to execute more than 20 endorsement deals thanks to the Cowboys’ Cinderella run into the 2025 NCAA tournament.
“It feels like a dream and I’m going to wake up one day,” Khan told Front Office Sports this week. “It doesn’t feel real.”
For years, Cinderella runs by dark-horse programs have brought exposure and potential enrollment increases to schools and new contracts and job offers to coaches. But when the NILera began in 2021, players could profit, too, prompting companies to do quick-turnaround endorsement deals with viral stars during the Big Dance.
Though the NCAA has never prohibited managers from signing NIL deals, managers usually don’t have the cache to draw the interest of an endorser. Khan, with his boombox, enthusiasm, and overnight social media power became arguably the first student manager to benefit from the phenomenon. Plus, student managers like Khan don’t receive compensation for their work on the team (though in some cases, managers can earn scholarships).
Khan first went viral in February 2025, when he posted a video leading the Cowboys onto the hardwood against Texas A&M–Corpus Christi while playing “In & Out” by Lud Foe on his blue boombox. That fame only grew as McNeese secured its spot in the tournament. He became the subject of not just social media chatter, but also in-game broadcast commentary. He was such an integral part of the Cowboys’ run the cheerleaders wore shirts with his face on them.
McNeese’s run was short-lived—they were bounced in the Round of 32 by Purdue—but it was plenty of time for Khan to cash in.
First was an NIL deal with Buffalo Wild Wings—a company with proven experience with the quick-turnaround NIL game—that provided a custom design for his boombox. But it didn’t end there. Khan signed with more than a dozen other companies, including TickPick,TurboTax, andInsomnia Cookies. His favorites, he tells FOS: a bobblehead created with his likeness, and his deal with Topps. “I collected sports cards as a kid,” Khan said. “To have my own, and it to be for Topps, it’s special. I don’t think there’s anything like that.”
When the Cowboys’ run ended, Khan, then a senior at McNeese, followed Wade to NC State. It looked like the end of an era for the Cowboys, who had lost not just their coach but also their swaggy and endearing manager.
But a few months later, Khan transferred back to McNeese. He grew up just a few miles from McNeese’s campus watching the Cowboys, and Khan said he missed home. “I’m not someone who necessarily wants to move away.”
Plus, many of his credits didn’t transfer. Khan had to enroll as a sophomore at NC State, but in returning to McNeese, he would complete his degree in just another few semesters.
The Cinderella experience has changed Khan’s life. Although he’s gotten so much brand interest that he’s hired a manager, he said his newfound fame hasn’t changed his personal goals. He sees himself pursuing a career in sports media or coaching, and hopes to be hired by McNeese as a graduate assistant next year.
But he acknowledged that the social media following he’s gained, as well as his agent and newfound experience, could help him with those goals. “With everything that’s happened over the last year, it’s opened the door [to] being on social media as a career. What that would look like, I don’t know.”
For now, Khan is focused on supporting the Cowboys through what he hopes will be a deep run into the tournament. Khan’s bio on McNeese athletics website currently reads: “Khan says about his time at McNeese: ‘If they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court, I’d put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers.’” Below the quote, the website encourages fans to click a photo of Khan—in case they want to buy a t-shirt to support “the most talked-about college basketball manager in the country.”
