WATCH: NC State introduces Will Wade as head men's basketball coach

Yahoo

25-03-2025

RALEIGH, N.C (WGHP) — NC State introduced Will Wade as its 21st head coach in program history on Tuesday afternoon.
The full press conference can be watched in the player above.
Wade has experienced massive success in all four of his stops as a head coach thus far in his career, despite being only 42 years old.
Wade cut his teeth as an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth University and was on staff for VCU's memorable Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2011.
His first career stop was at the University of Tennesse at Chattanooga, where he was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 2014 for leading the Mocs to 8-0 start in conference play his first year on the job.
Chattanooga nearly won the SoCon in 2015 and afterward, Wade returned to VCU, this time as the head coach.
Wade spent the next 2 seasons at VCU, making the NCAA Tournament in both years and winning a tournament game in 2016 before taking a head coaching position at Lousiana State University.
Wade inherited a 10-win LSU team and led them to a winning record and NIT appearance in his first season in 2018.
His team took a leap in his second year in 2019, with a 25-5 start that saw the Tigers sitting in first place in the SEC standings.
LSU's promising 2019 came to a screeching halt when Wade was suspended for the 2019 NCAA Tournament and the Tigers went on to lose in the Sweet 16 with an interim coach.
That suspension, along with multiple allegations of misconduct within the program derailed most of the momentum Wade had built in Baton Rouge those first two seasons.
The 2019 suspension was based on an FBI wiretap that allegedly captured Wade referring to a 'stong a** offer' for a recruit, which was not allowed under NCAA rules at the time.
'arranged for, offered and/or provided impermissible payments, including cash payments, to at least 11 men's basketball prospective student-athletes, their family members, individuals associated with the prospects and/or nonscholastic coaches in exchange for the prospects' enrollment at LSU.'
While Wade would go on to be reinstated following the 2019 season, LSU would never reach the heights of that 2019 season again before Wade was ultimately fired in 2022.
According to ESPN, Wade agreed to a new contract that granted LSU the ability to fire him with cause if he committed any Level I or Level II NCAA rules violations when he was reinstated in 2019.
One of the allegations against Wade listed by ESPN alleges that he gave 'impermissible cash payments to the former fiancée of a student-athlete in order to buy her silence regarding prior and current impermissible inducements to student-athletes or prospective student-athletes.'
ESPN reports that the NCAA also accused Wade of violations of ethical conduct principles and failing to cooperate with investigators, 'as well as a number of other allegations the [Complex Case Unit] was ultimately unable to substantiate fully, when he refused to produce all records the CCU requested from him.'
Wade would be hired again as a head coach at McNeese State in March 2023, however, he was given a 10-game suspension and a two-year show-cause penalty for the alleged violations at LSU.
Wade took over a McNeese team that had only won 11 games in each of its previous two seasons when he arrived.
The team had an 8-2 record once he finished serving his 10-game suspension and Wade took over and did what he has done and all of his coaching stops — win.
The Cowboys went 22-1 in their next 23 games, winning the Southland Conference and making the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002.
While McNeese lost to Gonzaga in the first round as an underdog. Wade and the Cowboys found redemption on Thursday as they upset No. 5 seed Clemson in the First Round.
The win was the first NCAA Tournament win in program history and coincided with a second consecutive Southland Conference championship.
NC State fans are hopeful that Wade will bring his winning ways to Raleigh and return the Wolfpack to the ranks of its Tobacco Road rivals in the ACC.
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