By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
There is no statue of Will Wade quite yet on the back patio of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Pettit and Seimone Augustus.
But who knows? If LSU’s rabid fan base one day wants that, they’ll probably get that, too. But today, he’ll have to settle for front and center inside the arena.
Frank Williams Wade, who goes by Will and has a lot of that, will be officially introduced at 12 p.m. Monday at the Assembly Center as the Tigers’ men’s basketball coach … again. And the public is invited for free.
Wade became LSU’s coach for the first time back on March 22, 2017, in front of hundreds of students who packed in for free at the LSU Student Union.
The only questions this time are:
– Is Will Wade going to ride in on horseback with a black mask?
– And can the 13,215-capacity Assembly Center, which Wade often filled as coach the first time from 2017-22, fit everyone?
Kim Mulkey wore a mask at her introductory press conference as LSU’s new women’s basketball coach in the Assembly Center on April 26, 2021. But that was because of COVID, and she ripped it off as she took the podium to the delight of the crowd and chagrin of liberal, then-LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, who hired her away from Baylor.
WILL WADE FILLED ASSEMBLY CENTER FOR SEC TITLE WIN IN 2019 … THOUGH HE WASN’T THERE
This time, the Assembly Center could draw one of its biggest crowds for a men’s basketball event – and clearly its most emotionally charged crowd – since Wade’s No. 10 Tigers beat Vanderbilt, 80-59, on March 9, 2019, in front of 13,546 to grab sole possession of the Southeastern Conference. LSU won their fifth straight and ninth of its last 10 to finish the regular season at 26-5 and 16-2.
Wade was not there, but his spirit never left the building. Then LSU president F. King Alexander and then-LSU athletic director Joe Alleva had suspended Wade indefinitely the day before after a bombshell investigative piece by Yahoo Sports on March 7 identified Wade as a primary focuses of an ongoing FBI investigation into college basketball corruption.
Wade had also refused to cooperate with investigations by LSU and the NCAA related to the probe. Assistant coach Tony Benford replaced Wade as interim for the Vanderbilt game and the rest of the season, guiding the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and 28-7 finish.
The Yahoo story by Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel detailed what Wade described on FBI wiretap as “a strong-ass offer” in a 2017 conversation about his recruitment of Scotlandville High star point guard Javonte Smart, who soon signed with LSU over Kentucky and others and was a freshman on the team that March 9, 2019, averaging 11.4 points a game.
Alleva also suspended Smart for that Vanderbilt game in “an abundance of caution,” pending LSU’s own investigation of the FBI probe and Yahoo story.
This was too much for the LSU fanbase to take during the Tigers’ first SEC championship season in a decade in just Wade’s second season since coming from Virginia Commonwealth, where he was also under NCAA investigation. And hundreds wore “Free Will Wade” T-shirts to the game that day. So did one Baton Rouge television sportscaster.
Students chanted “Joe Must Go,” “Let Joe Go” and “Joe Is A Coward” amid hearty boos and yelled “Free Will Wade.” Police even ventured into the stands to confiscate some signs critical of Alleva.
“This is what we all came to LSU for,” reserve guard Marshall Graves said. “People cheering. People protesting. Whatever.”
Three years and three NCAA Tournaments – two with interim coaches – later, though, Wade was fired on March 12, 2022, on the heels of the NCAA’s official letter of inquiry that listed six Level 1 violations directed at Wade.
But he never stopped loving LSU, and LSU fans never stopped loving him through two seasons at McNeese State (2023-25) with two Southland Conference titles, two NCAA Tournaments and its first NCAA Tournament (Division I) win in history, a two-year show cause from the NCAA and 10 forfeits.
Louisiana governor Jeff Landry and Board of Supervisors member Lee Mallett tried to hire Wade last year, but then-athletic director Scott Woodward blocked it. And Wade took the North Carolina State job for $17 million over six years, but LSU fans’ love for him never wavered, nor did his for them.
“I am beyond excited and honored to be chosen to lead the Wolfpack basketball program,” Wade said last year at this time. “NC State’s rich tradition, passionate fan base, and location in one of the best cities in the country make this a destination job, and I can’t wait to get started.”
But that was Wade at his duplicitous best.
In the end, he couldn’t wait to leave NC State and had been telling LSU powers that be for several weeks that he would see everyone in the spring. After discussing his return to North Carolina State for more than a week after elimination from the NCAA Tournament First Four with his eighth loss in 10 games for a 20-14 (10-8 ACC for 7th) finish, he bolted last Wednesday and landed in Baton Rouge on Thursday.
“I’ll try to follow more rules this time,” Wade said in classic outlaw mode as he departed the Baton Rouge Airport in a getaway vehicle Thursday afternoon.
“This is our chance to come home to a place that has shaped me, where the passion for basketball runs deep,” he released in a statement. “This was not an easy decision because of how much respect and appreciation I have for this program and this university (NC State). “But the opportunity to return to Louisiana State is deeply personal. It’s a chance to go home – to a place that means a great deal to me and my family.”
The Prodigal Son/Serial Cheater – and coaching version of Thomas Wolfe to North Carolina – returns to LSU because he can go “home” again.https://t.co/Jdrk9kANJF
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 26, 2026
If home is where the heart is, Wade, 43, really can go home again. Because he had no ties to Louisiana before getting hired by LSU in 2017. He was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated from Clemson in Clemson, South Carolina.
“Home” also means more money as his new contract with LSU is for $30 million for seven years at $4 million a year in his first season.
“LSU represents something bigger,” Wade said Thursday. “It’s about competing at the highest level in the best conference in the country, in front of one of the most passionate fan bases in college basketball. The resources, the commitment and the alignment at LSU makes it a place where we can build something special and sustainable.”
By Friday, LSU already had 700 new season ticket order requests for the 2026-27 men’s basketball season, according to Brian Broussard of the LSU ticket office.
LSU had 700 men’s basketball season ticket requests in the first 24 hours after Will Wade was hired, Brian Broussard Assoc AD for Ticket Sales and Operations tells me.
— Matt Moscona (@MattMoscona) March 28, 2026
Last season, there were 5,400 season tickets sold.
Fans can get on the list until end of May at which point…
Wade is expected to receive a $13 million roster budget after just-fired LSU coach Matt McMahon was always at the bottom of the SEC in roster budget (and the standings) even after topping out with an $8 million budget last season. His budget for his first three seasons after Wade left a depleted roster was less than $8 million combined. McMahon had three SEC losing seasons in four years, including 3-15 marks the last two years.
Three of McMahon’s players from last season have already said they will enter the NCAA Transfer Portal because of the coaching change – elite junior point guard Dedan Thomas Jr., veteran LSU forward Jalen Reed and reserve freshman transfer guard Ron Zipper. One of three incoming four-star signees from McMahon’s No. 24-ranked class of 2026 has also asked out of his scholarship – No. 32 small forward Kevin Thomas of Sagemont Prep in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
LSU had strung McMahon along and would have likely retained him had Wade not taken the job. But LSU powers believed Wade was coming for months.
“I’m incredibly excited,” Wade said.
North Carolina State athletic director Boo Corrigan and the Wolfpack’s fan base, meanwhile, feels incredibly bamboozled. They believed Wade, too.
“I would commiserate with them in terms of feeling lied to,” Corrigan said last week. “And I’m as surprised as they are about what’s going on. But the Wolfpack ain’t for soft people. We’re gonna go find a coach that agrees and understands who we are and what we are. We’ve got coaches that want to be at NC State. We thought we had someone. We had developed a relationship that I believe was based on trust and accountability.”
Wade skipped a meeting with Corrigan last Wednesday and informed him that he was leaving by an email. An email!
Before that, Corrigan said, “There was no reason for me not to believe the words that I was hearing coming back to me from coach Wade.”
Welcome to Will Wade’s world, Boo … you just left it.
LSU, he’s all yours.
“I just abhor everything about this,” a former major college basketball head coach who never worked at LSU said Sunday.
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