PROVIDENCE, R.I. — McNeese’s Will Wade is expected to be the next coach at NC State, a person briefed on the situation confirmed to The Athletic on Wednesday. OG Media’s Joe Giglio first reported that an agreement had been reached.
Earlier in the day, Wade confirmed during an NCAA Tournament media availability that there had been communication between him and his representatives and the ACC school about the Wolfpack’s head coaching vacancy. Wade did not immediately respond to text message from The Athletic seeking further comment.
Wade has McNeese in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season as Southland Conference champions. The Cowboys are a No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region and face fifth-seed Clemson, Wade’s alma mater, on Thursday in Providence.
The 42-year-old Wade said he has been upfront with his players about his possible departure from the school.
“We addressed it head-on,” Wade said. “I talked to them Saturday about it. Here’s what it is, here is where we are. It was just me and our players and we all talked about it. I’m aware of what I have got going on. They’re aware of what we’ve got going on. You just hit it head-on. We’re all on the same page with everything.”
Wade figured to be one of the hottest commodities on the coaching market, with a career record of 253-106 and seven NCAA appearances in 11 years over previous stops at Chattanooga, VCU and LSU.
Speculation about Wade and NC State has been bubbling for more than a week. McNeese won its conference tournament last Wednesday and has been idle since.
NC State entered the market for a new coach after firing Kevin Keatts, one year after he had led the ACC school on a surprising run to the Final Four. Wade has a buyout in his contract with McNeese that would cost another school $1 million to hire him away.
He was fired by LSU in 2022 after the school received a notice of allegations from the NCAA detailing multiple major recruiting violations during his tenure, including several uncovered during the FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball. NCAA investigators said Wade arranged for, offered and provided impermissible payments to numerous recruits and family members or associates of recruits to get them to come to LSU.
Now the NCAA and major conferences are awaiting final approval of a settlement of three antitrust lawsuits to pave the way for a new revenue-sharing system that will allow schools to directly pay athletes.
“I think it’s evolving,” Wade said about the move toward direct payments to athletes. “It doesn’t affect us as much at McNeese as it does at other places, but I think it’s slowly evolving, unfortunately, through the courts. It would have been better, probably, if it was done not kind of piecemealed through the courts like we have now. If we had a little foresight on some things. But I’m all for the student athletes having opportunities and having the ability to move around.”
Wade was out of coaching for a year before landing at McNeese in Lake Charles, La. He has gone 49-8 with the Cowboys.
Wade said he doesn’t begrudge the increased player movement that has come from loosened transfer rules and name, image and likeness freedoms creating opportunities for athletes to make money by switching schools.
“I told our coaching staff last year I don’t want to hear any complaining about calling kids in the portal while we’re in the NCAA Tournament,” Wade said. “Half the coaching staff around the country — those assistants are trying to get other jobs, too. If they’re trying to get other jobs, why can’t the kids? That makes intuitive sense to me. I think it’s moving in a good direction with the revenue share, and I haven’t followed it all that closely. I know there’s going to be a clearinghouse with the NIL deals, so it seems positive. We’re going to share the revenue and make sure the NIL is actually NIL, for the most part. I think it’s moving in a good direction.”
According to a source familiar with the search process, one of the biggest hurdles to the Wolfpack hiring Wade was whether or not the program would make the requisite financial investment — namely, in terms of its commitment to both NIL and revenue sharing, once the House settlement takes effect — that Wade deemed necessary. NC State had one of the lowest NIL budgets in the ACC this season, multiple industry sources say, and in order to secure Wade’s services, the Wolfpack had to commit to more than doubling the money invested into their roster.
Other finalists for the job were Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey, who played at NC State, and New Mexico coach Richard Pitino.
Wade becomes NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan’s first major personnel acquisition since Corrigan arrived in Raleigh in April 2019. Corrigan inherited Dave Doeren as NC State’s football coach, Wes Moore as the school’s women’s basketball coach, and Keatts as its men’s basketball coach when he was hired.
Thus far in Corrigan’s tenure — at least partially because he also inherited an NCAA investigation stemming from former men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried — the AD had been hesitant to make major moves. But Corrigan’s decision to fire Keatts one year after he led the Wolfpack to the Final Four showed that he understood his men’s hoops program needed a major jolt.
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
