The LSU Tigers announced Will Wade’s return as the head coach of the men’s basketball program on Thursday, after he spent a single season with the NC State Wolfpack. The timeline surrounding Wade’s return to the school where he was fired in 2022 for recruiting violations is murky.
Not only was Wade’s hire announced before sitting head coach Matt McMahon was informed of his dismissal, but Lou Pascucci of Packinsider.com was told on March 1 that Wade was leaving for LSU in what was “basically a done deal.” NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan, on the other hand, learned of Wade’s resignation in an email from Wade’s agent after discussing future plans for the program with the coach on Tuesday.
ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas has strong feelings about Wade’s move and the current state of college athletics.
“This is not necessarily about Will Wade. It’s about the business, period. Coaches and administrators like to complain about tampering with players. But we never hear that with coaches,” Bilas said on Saturday’s College GameDay episode, via On3.
“These coaches are under contract, and other member institutions are basically tampering with them and tortiously interfering with their contractual relationship with their school, with no repercussions. Everybody is good with it because, you take my coach, I’ll to take somebody else’s. And the ripple effect goes through the whole industry. I don’t think it’s right.”
Bilas also spoke to how the athletic departments at universities are complaining to the U.S. Congress that the current amount that players are making is unsustainable, but seem to have no issue finding the funds to pay coaching buyouts or make splash hires.
“There’s plenty of money when they want to make a coaching change,” Bilas said. “But when the players get something – and they’re still restricted – and, boy, we’ve got a problem with that.”
After being asked for a solution to the current model, Bilas called for something more akin to the NBA, where permission has to be granted to interview someone on a rival staff.
“They don’t do that in the NFL and the NBA. You can’t go do that,” Bilas said. “There are rules against it. … While presidents are out there waving their finger at everybody talking about values and integrity, they don’t show any…”
“Will Wade wasn’t even there a calendar year, and he’s gone, and signed a multi-year contract and been dealing, getting more resources for next year and all that stuff, and left skid marks on that place.
“I’m not trying to cast aspersions on one coach. Darian DeVries was at Drake, West Virginia, and Indiana in one year. It’s business as usual. But we need to stop clutching our pearls with regard to the players if we’re not going to say anything about this.”
