First Person with Will Wade, Head Coach, McNeese State University Men’s Basketball

by Matt Dye

When Will Wade was hired as the new McNeese Men’s Basketball coach on March 12, 2023, whispers immediately started swirling around Lake Charles and the college basketball scene at large. The expectations came soon after, with many voicing some lofty goals for the new hire. But those expectations aren’t necessarily pie in the sky dreams.

Will Wade’s story is one of success. He served as a graduate assistant at Clemson before moving onto Harvard as an assistant coach. He then went to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) as an assistant under Shaka Smart, where he helped to take VCU to their only Final Four appearance in 2011. He then took his first head coaching job at Chattanooga, where he turned around a team that went 13-19 in 2013 to their first 20-win season, 22-10, in 2015.

Returning to VCU as head coach, Wade maintained what Smart had created and took the Rams to the Dance both seasons he was there before following the yellow brick road to Baton Rouge. At LSU, he rebuilt a Tiger team that had gone 10-21 in 2017 to an SEC regular season title and 28-7 record in 2019, as well as the championship game of the 2021 SEC tournament.

And then he was terminated.

But Wade’s story is also one of redemption and second chances. After being let go by LSU following recruitment infractions, Wade took a year away from the sideline, but he didn’t take a year away from growing as both a coach and a person.

Now Wade, along with his wife and daughter, call Lake Charles home and, after a 10-game suspension which ends on December 13th with a home game against Southern Miss, looks to take the Pokes to new horizons.

How did you come to love the sport of basketball?

I wasn’t a very good player. In high school, I was a JV player my freshman year, and then I was a manager the rest of my time and in college. I love the experience – the game, the competitions. I never had a grand plan to be a college basketball coach. My goal was to be a history teacher and coach high school basketball, but I became a graduate assistant and never got out.

How did you become a graduate assistant?

I was a manager for four years with Larry Shyatt and Oliver Pernell, and I think Coach Pernell felt sorry for me and said if you’re going to be a poor teacher, you might as well get a graduate degree so I can get you a little more money in your paycheck. After the first year, the director of basketball operations left, and Coach Pernell hired me in that position with no experience. I was very fortunate and have been in college basketball ever since.

So, that was when you knew that this was what you wanted to do?

Yeah, I knew I wanted to stick around see if I could make a career out of it. I was fortunate enough to get a job at Harvard as an on-the-road assistant working for a great guy in Tommy Amaker, who’s still the head coach there. Then Shaka Smart, who was the head coach at VCU, and I we were on staff together at Clemson. We spent a year together and became close and he hired me at VCU. Little did we know the tremendous ride and amount of success he would have there, and I was able to parlay that into other good gigs.

What was it like going with VCU to the Final Four?

It was wild! Just a magical month. We hit a ton of three’s and had some really good match-ups, and things just fell right for us. And it changed everybody’s life.

You turned around the program at Chattanooga. How did it feel there?

It was different. The program there was in a tough spot, so they felt like they needed to roll the dice and do something bold, so I told him, “what do you got to lose?” We took over and were able to put it together and win some games over those two years, and then I got the opportunity to go back to VCU.

Did moving back to VCU as head coach make you feel as though things were coming together in your career?

It was great but very difficult. We were taking over for Shaka Smart, who was a legend, so we had to keep the program performing at a higher level. Thankfully, we were able to do that. We won an NCAA tournament game that first year before losing a close game to Oklahoma, who ended up going to the Final Four. VCU is a great place with unbelievable fans. When I got to LSU, I was like, “We don’t just sell out the arena?” because that’s what we did every game at VCU. You realize once you’re out of that bubble how special and unique it is there.

What was it like going to LSU?

I realized early on it was going to be different. I loved every minute until they fired me. A lot of highs, a few lows, but you never know exactly what you’re getting into. I’d never visited the campus. I’d been to Louisiana maybe a couple times for recruiting. There was an adjustment, but we had such a connection with the fans and the people that made it a special experience.

After LSU, what did you do in your year away from coaching?

I did some consulting work for an NBA team. I was able to do some things I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. I was able to learn and I went to practices. When you’re in season, you’re only worried about your practice, you can’t see anybody else practice. So, I think my ability to get out there and see some other folks and get some new ideas was certainly refreshing.

What drew you to McNeese?

The first part was that it’s an area I was familiar with. I knew Heath Schroyer very well, and I had a high level of comfort with him and his ability to get us the resources to win at the level that we all want to win at here. I felt like it was the right time and my career needed a little bit of a reboot and the basketball program needed a little bit of the same. The community needs it after the hurricanes, and hopefully we can do that for everybody in the community and everybody that loves McNeese.

How do you handle the high expectations for this team?

I think it’s great. You want high expectations. That means people care. And I promise you whatever the external expectations are, the internal expectations are even higher. We want to be a team that competes at the top of the Southland Conference and earns the NCAA bid. That’s a big picture goal, but we’ve got to do stuff every day to make sure that we’re heading towards that. I want to deliver a championship to McNeese and this area.

What were some initial culture shocks for you moving to Louisiana?

It’s funny. I was talking to some folks my first couple weeks here, and they kept saying they were going to ‘camp’. They’re going to camp? Everybody down here camps? I didn’t realize it was their fishing camp, like an actual house. I thought they were going to actually camp. It’s certainly a unique culture. The best people in the world!