McNeese State announced it has hired Will Wade as its next men’s basketball head coach. The hiring was first reported by Adam Zagoria of Forbes, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and Jeff Goodman of Stadium.
Wade spent five years as LSU’s head coach from 2017 to ’22, going 108–53, but he ultimately was fired following an investigation into his program. Under Wade, LSU was part of the FBI’s bribery investigation into several college basketball programs. The FBI found that Wade had directly discussed compensation for recruits with middleman Christian Dawkins, who received an 18-month sentence for his role in the scandal.
The NCAA delivered a Notice of Allegations to LSU last year, and the Tigers ended up firing Wade not long after. While several programs were part of the investigation, Wade was one of the coaches at the front and center of it throughout. He has also spent time as the head coach at VCU and Chattanooga.
Wade will sign a five-year contract with McNeese State, according to Zagoria and Rothstein. Other schools were interested in hiring Wade, but McNeese State was aggressive in its pursuit, according to Goodman.
McNeese State recently fired head coach John Aiken following a two-year stretch where the Cowboys went 22–45. The Cowboys have only made the NCAA tournament twice since 1973. McNeese State’s most recent NCAA tournament appearance was in 2002 when the Cowboys lost in the first round.
