Kevin Nickelberry, who was Howard University’s head men’s basketball coach for nearly a decade before becoming assistant coach at LSU, is filling in as interim coach for the rest of the Tigers’ season.

Nickelberry learned about his new position in a meeting with Tate and Woodward on Saturday. Three minutes later, he had to address the team. “What I told the players in that first meeting was, all we can control is the next week — or, I hope, two or three weeks,” he told The Washington Post last week. “None of us knows what’s coming after that. Some guys will graduate. Some will have a shot at the NBA. Some will be auditioning — for the new coach here or for a coach at another school.”

He went on: “What I wanted them to understand was that we are a very good basketball team and to play in the NCAA tournament is an opportunity that may or may not come again. Nothing’s guaranteed. I told them I understood this was a unique and extraordinary circumstance. But we had five days to get our mojo back.”