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Six years after getting caught on tape making a “strong-ass offer” to pay a player’s handler, McNeese State coach Will Wade was unusually honest about a potential new offer.
Meeting with the media ahead of 12th-seeded McNeese’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Clemson—Wade’s alma mater—he acknowledged he’s met with North Carolina State about their coaching vacancy.
Hours after the blunt admission, Wade agreed to take the Wolfpack job, ESPN reported.
“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.”
NC State had fired Kevin Keatts less than a year after he led the team to a shocking Final Four run in 2024.
The legalization of players being paid for their NIL (name, image, and likeness) in 2021 combined with the introduction of the transfer portal in 2018 has driven several coaching legends to their retirement; among others, Jim Boeheim, Tony Bennett, and Jim Larrañaga blasted the state of the game on their way out the door. But coaches can leave whenever they want, and Wade is aware of the hypocrisy.
“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 staffs in the country—those assistants are trying to get other jobs, too. If they’re trying to get other jobs, why can’t the kids?”
Coaches almost never publicly acknowledge interest in another job, both out of respect for their current employer and for fear of fan blowback, among other factors. But nobody ever expected Wade to stay at McNeese State long-term when the Cowboys hired him in 2023.
Wade, now 42, led the Cowboys in the tournament for the second straight season and has repaired his image after being fired by LSU in 2022. At just 34, he was hired to coach LSU, where he led the Tigers to three NCAA tournaments in five years and the 2019 Sweet 16. Wade was suspended at LSU after he recorded on an FBI wiretap saying he made a “strong-ass offer” to the handler of Javonte Smart, a recruit who eventually signed with the Tigers. At the time, paying players was against NCAA rules; it no longer is in the NIL era.
McNeese State plays Clemson on Thursday in Providence. Tip-off is slated for 3:15 p.m. Eastern.
