Will Wade
Will Wade (born November 26, 1982)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: McNeese Cowboys
Current conference: Southland Conference
Chattanooga record: 40-25 (.615)
VCU record: 51-20 (.718)
LSU record: 105-51 (.673)
McNeese record: 22-2 (.917)
Overall record: 218-98 (.690)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 5 (2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2024)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 1 (2018)
- CIT Appearances: 1 (2014)
- Southland Regular Season Champion: 1 (2024)
- SEC Regular Season Champion: 1 (2019)
- Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champion: 1 (2016)
- Southland Tournament Champion: 1 (2024)
Awards:
- Southland Coach of the Year: 1 (2024)
- SoCon Coach of the Year: 1 (2014)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2023-present | McNeese |
| 2017-2022 | LSU |
| 2015-2017 | VCU |
| 2013-2015 | Chattanooga |
| 2009-2013 | VCU (asst) |
| 2007-2009 | Harvard (asst) |
| 2006-2007 | Clemson (DBO) |
| 2005-2006 | Clemson (grad. asst) |
Will Wade Facts
- Frank Williams Wade
- Born November 26, 1982
- Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
- Alma Mater: Clemson University (BA, 2005)
- Was a student manager at Clemson from 2002-2005 while working on his undergraduate degree
- During his time at Clemson, he worked under both head coaches Larry Shyatt and Oliver Purnell
- Was an assistant at Harvard for two seasons under Tommy Amaker, then for four seasons at VCU under Shaka Smart
- Spent two years as the head coach at Chattanooga before returning to VCU in 2015 to replace Smart
- Led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in each of his two seasons as head coach
- Hired in March 2017 to become the new head coach at LSU
- Led the Tigers to the 2018 NIT in his first season and won the outright SEC regular season title a year later
- Suspended in March 2019 for failing to answer questions regarding recordings that appeared to include Wade discussing an “offer” being made to a recruit while on the phone with basketball “middleman” Christian Dawkins
- Dawkins was a central figure in the FBI investigation and college basketball scandal that first broke in early 2017
- In April 2019, Wade met with LSU and NCAA reps and was reinstated as head coach
- In his absence, interim head coach Tony Benford went 3-2 and led the Tigers to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen
- Fired with cause in March 2022 after a notice of allegations was presented by the NCAA
- In March 2023, exactly one year after his firing from LSU, Wade was hired as the new head coach at McNeese
- McNeese decided to suspend Wade the first five games of the 2023-24 season due to the LSU case, but in June 2023 the NCAA extended that suspension to ten games and also levied a number of recruiting restrictions on Wade through October 2024
- In his first season, Wade led McNeese to an outright Southland title – the program’s first since 2011 – and was named Southland COY
Will Wade Coaching Tree
- Tony Benford (LSU)
- Greg Heiar (New Mexico State, Northwest Florida State)
- Brooks Savage (East Tennessee State)