NC State coach Will Wade said he hasn’t paid any attention to the “gossip” surrounding his possible return to LSU.
“Is the job open there? No?” Wade asked Thursday, when prompted to address rumors surrounding the possibility of a Baton Rouge reunion after NC State’s 81-74 loss to Virginia in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.
Wade, whose team is 20-13 and in solid position for an NCAA Tournament bid, said he has already met with NC State’s administration about some of the changes the program needs to make entering his second year in Raleigh and that he was “here to win at NC State.”
“This year hasn’t gone exactly how we wanted it to. But we’re gonna rally, we’re gonna work hard and we’re gonna have a team next year that’s ready to roll.”
Wade reached the NCAA Tournament in his last three full seasons at LSU and was in position to do so in 2020 before the tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, Wade led the Tigers to their second Sweet 16 appearance since 2000.
LSU coach Matt McMahon, who replaced Wade, has just one winning season and no trips to the NCAA Tournament in four years at the helm. The Tigers finished 3-15 in SEC play in each of the past two seasons and suffered a season-ending loss to Kentucky in the SEC tournament on Wednesday. It would cost LSU around $8 million to fire McMahon.
“I’m not on social media, I’m not into the gossip, I’m not into any of that sort of stuff, but we’re gonna win and we’re going to win big at NC State,” Wade said. “That’s what we’re gonna do moving forward and we have the resources we need.”
Wade coached at LSU from 2017 to 2022 and was fired for cause in March 2022 after the NCAA served LSU a notice of allegations regarding recruiting violations within his program. As part of an FBI investigation into corruption inside college basketball, Wade was caught on a wire tap from 2017 discussing a “strong-ass offer” made to a prospective recruit. Wade was eventually suspended 10 games and given a two-year show-cause order for three Level I violations of NCAA rules.
Wade was hired at McNeese State in 2023, a year after his firing at LSU. He twice won the Southland Conference, going 36-2 in two seasons in league play, and took the Cowboys to the NCAA Tournament both years. He led No. 12 seed McNeese to an upset of Clemson in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 64 last year, before jumping to NC State.
Wade also said he watched McNeese State’s Southland Conference tournament final victory on Wednesday night, which qualified the program for a third consecutive NCAA Tournament.