For the first time since the 1918-19 season, the head coach of the NC State Wolfpack men’s basketball team will not return for a second season in Raleigh. Will Wade leaves for LSU after just one season in Raleigh, just one season after Kevin Keatts was fired.
During that earlier season, Tal Stafford coached the baseball and football teams while also serving as the school’s athletic director.
Stafford, a Raleigh native, remained the athletic director for one additional school year before leaving the university.
While Richard Crozier coached one season in 1923-24, he had previously led the Wolfpack from 1919-21 in the program’s final two seasons of independence before it became a founding member of the Southern Conference.
This time, however, money and unfinished business that led to the departure, as Will Wade announced on his X account that he was leaving NC State to return to LSU.
That statement is a different tone than nearly one year ago, when NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan praised the school’s splashy hire following the firing of Keatts.
“Will told me that he believes that he can win at NC State…and ‘win big,'” Corrigan said in a statement after Wade’s hiring. “It didn’t take me too many conversations with him to believe it too.”
At his introductory press conference, Wade promised to change perception of NC State was not among the top teams in the ACC.
“We are here to win. We’re here to win the right way. And we’re going to be aggressive, we’re going to be committed and we’re going to be thankful in all that we do,” Wade said.
As speculation swirled around Wade at the ACC Tournament earlier this month, he was asked about the LSU job.
“No, is the job open there? Huh? No? So why would I…,” Wade said. “Listen, to be very clear I’m excited at NC State. I was hired at NC State to do a job and this wasn’t going to take one year.”
Two weeks after that news conference, he accepted the LSU job before the school had officially fired the current coach.
Wade became the first coach to win fewer than 60% of his games in his first year since Sidney Lowe went 20-16 in 2006-07. Les Robinson, in 1990-91, was the last Wolfpack coach to win an NCAA Tournament game in his first campaign.
Before finalizing the move, LSU fired the coach it hired to replaced Wade in 2022. Matt McMahon went 60-70 in four seasons in Baton Rouge and failing to reach the NCAA Tournament.
The financial impact of the move is significant. McMahon is owed $8 million, and NC State will be pay $5 million to buy out Wade’s contract, in addition to the terms of Wade’s new contract.
According to reporting from WRAL, Corrigan said NC State would accept $4 million so the Wolfpack can begin the process of hiring a head coach for the second straight offseason.
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Corrigan conveyed shock to Wolfpack fans.
“I was as shocked and surprised as anyone else…based on the conversations that we had,” Corrigan said. “I’m disappointed for our athletic department, disappointed for our fans and disappointed for our university that we’re here today.”
When asked whether Wade has missed any meetings this week as speculation intensified, Corrigan said there was one he did not attend.
Corrigan and Wade met Tuesday night to discuss what the program needed to do to improve after its First Four loss last week. The next day, Wade’s agent sent a resignation letter via email.
“We want to find the right person for NC State,” Corrigan said. “We need to make sure we have a person committed to this university, that wants to be at this university, that shares our values of trust and accountability.”
Now begins the search for the next Wolfpack head coach. This marks the first time that NC State and rival North Carolina have conducted head coaching searches at the same time since 1946.
Sports Illustrated is reporting that Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey, a former NC State player; George Mason head coach Tony Skinn; Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway; Furman head coach Bob Richey; and East Tennessee State head coach Brooks Savage, among others.
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