Will Wade was cast as the biggest villain in college basketball just two seasons ago after being fired by LSU amid a massive FBI probe into the sport. Now, in his first season back, he will lead 30-3 McNeese State against Gonzaga in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 41-year-old coach and his staff kept receipts!
They rocked t-shirts that referenced the haters during their first practice in Salt Lake City. Old headlines and tweets that spoke negatively about Wade were plastered all over the back.
Messages on the shirt include:
- Pat Forde
- “Years of Corruption and Enablement Lead to Shameful and Deserving End For Will Wade”
- “Column: The greasy grifter Will Wade is finally gone— and in humiliating fashion.”
- “The IARP has proven to be inept, and maybe that’s the gamble. But unless McNeese State has some unknown assurance that Will Wade won’t be penalized for five Level I allegations, it is hiring a guy who could be suspended for a full season and/or face multi-year show-cause penalty”
- Dan Wolken
- “Opinion: Will Wade living in his own warped reality, and the NCAA, SEC and LSU have enabled him”
- Dick Vitale
- “DISGRACEFUL is one word I can think of in reading the comments by Will Wade / his statements on the wiretap r EMBARRASSING & brings a total humiliation to LSU / a SUSPENSION IS IN ORDER NOW until LSU investigates the matter !”
- Mark Titus and Tate Frazier
- “Will Wade’s Not-So-Smart Thing”
- Glenn Guilbeau
- “Opinion: Wade sounds sinister in The Scheme; Woodward comment not exactly an endorsement”
- Stephen A. Smith
- “calls LSU’s Will Wade the’ biggest fool on the planet’ for FBI wiretaps”
- Dana O’Neil
- “Will Wade finally gets what was coming to him three years ago
- David Whitley
- “There has been no reckoning for SEC cheaters like Will Wade”
Will Wade is back with a vengeance.
Everybody was so quick to dismiss Will Wade after his ouster at LSU in March of 2022.
Who is laughing now?
Wade made an immediate impact during his first season with the Cowboys in Lake Charles. This is his first year back coaching after the NCAA hit him with a two-year show cause order and a 10-game suspension last June.
The punishment stemmed a federal government probe into college basketball that was, arguably, entrapment.
It was determined that Wade “committed multiple violations, including failing to report potential NCAA violations, providing impermissible cash payments to impede disclosure of information of potential NCAA violations in contradiction to NCAA unethical conduct legislation, and failing to cooperate with the infractions investigation.” The governing body also determined that he “violated the head coach responsibility rules by failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the men’s basketball program.”
As a result, McNeese State began the 2023/24 season without Willy The Kid. They went 8-2 while he served his suspension. They went 22-1 after he returned to the sideline— black hat and all.
Ironically, the things that Wade was caught doing is essentially legal today. Name, Image and Likeness created a pay-for-play system similar to all of the “illegal” activity that was going on before.
Wade and McNeese State earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament. His team is talented enough to make a deep run through the bracket.
All of hhis haters — listed on the back of the coaching staff’s shirts — would be furious.