Report: LSU Basketball Shakes up Coaching Staff, Promoting Kevin Nickelberry to Assistant Coach

The LSU roster is undergoing a massive overhaul in 2020 and the coaching staff is following suit. On Thursday, it was reported that not only will assistant coach Greg Heiar be moving on from the LSU program, but that Will Wade will be promoting Kevin Nickelberry to assistant coach.

Heiar's departure is one that's been expected for a few weeks now after spending the last three seasons in Baton Rouge with Wade as an assistant coach. The news of was first reported by Billy Embody at 247Sports.

"We were grateful for the opportunity here at LSU. We definitely loved the people, the players, the university, the fans, the city of Baton Rouge," Heiar told Embody. "My family, Jess and I really appreciated the opportunity to help build a winning and championship basketball program while we were here."

Thank You LSU! Blessed to have Coached & been around a lot of tremendous players that were great people. Thank You all the great people of Louisiana & the good friends we met the last 3 years! Memories & stories for Life! “Geaux🐯” #Forever44 https://t.co/m3IG43plZV
— Greg Heiar GH (@HeiarGregGH) June 18, 2020

With Heiar now gone, Wade will be promoting Kevin Nickelberry assistant coach to take Heiar's place. Nickelberry was hired in 2019 after spending nine years as the head coach at Howard University.

The 55-year-old spent last season as an "assistant to the head coach" and will now join Bill Armstrong and Tasmin Mitchell as the third assistant coach on Wade's staff. As part of his promotion, Nickelberry will receive a sizable raise on his contract.

#LSU assistant basketball coaches Bill Armstrong and Kevin Nickelberry each have proposed contract changes on the Board of Supervors agenda.

Armstrong has an increase to $375k a year through June 30, 2022.

Nickelberry has an increase to $300k through the same date.
— Brooks Kubena (@BKubena) June 18, 2020

Wade and LSU enter 2020 with one of the more exciting rosters in college basketball, though it's not clear exactly what it will look like at this point. The Tigers are still awaiting decisions from Trendon Watford, Darius Days and Javonte Smart, all of who are testing the NBA waters but have left their NCAA eligibility open.

LSU also figures to be among the favorites to land 2020 center Moussa Cisse, who reclassified after originally being a part of the 2021 class. Cisse is the No. 9 ranked player in the country according to 247Sports.

The class is headlined by guard Cam Thomas, who Wade has said a number of times, is the most prolific scorer he's seen as a recruiter in the high school circuits.

“He’s just a tremendous player and scorer. Talk about somebody who’s working hard. I talk to him every day,” Wade said back in May. “He goes at 7:30 in the morning and does all his conditioning workouts on a track and runs a hill. At night, he’s got a little access to a gym and he goes through an extensive shooting and ball-handling workout. We’ll put him in the role Skylar had and he’ll certainly have a huge impact on our team early."