Will Wade on changes NIL has made in recruiting: 'Money doesn't solve all the problems'

Former LSU and current McNeese basketball coach Will Wade recently made some interesting comments in regards to NIL. Wade was asked on Wake Up Mintzy about the current state of college basketball and what it takes to be successful.

Wade — who was fired from LSU for recruiting violations after being heard on a federal wiretap discussing making a “strong-ass offer” to a prospect — said that having the most money doesn’t directly result in success.

“Everybody acts like, ‘Ah, the best teams are going to get the best players.’ But to me, there’s a couple of factors,” Wade said. “One, you’ve gotta have the money. Two, then you’ve gotta be able to have the relationship to get the right players with the money. And then three, you’ve gotta have the sense to be able to fit it all together. Just because you have money, money doesn’t solve all the problems.”

Wade doesn’t have an issue with college basketball players making as much money as they can. If a fan base decides to donate a bunch of money to bring in several highly-touted recruits and transfers, he believes that is great.

“I don’t understand why everybody’s all up in arms about it. This is just the free markets at work,” Wade said. “If somebody decides it’s worth a certain amount for somebody to go to whatever school, I think that’s great for the kids; I think it’s great for the schools. I think it levels the playing field quite a bit.”

But just because you have money doesn’t mean you’re going to win at a high level. Alabama is currently one of the favorites to win the national championship, but according to Wade, “Alabama’s roster – it’s probably not in the top 3 or 4 in the SEC in terms of what they paid for it. But they evaluated well. They got parts and pieces that fit well together. And he’s done a great job with it.”

And then there are other programs who spent a lot of money to win at a high level but are currently having a down year, despite that.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, having a bunch of money helps. That’ll help,” Will Wade said. “But it doesn’t solve every problem. You’ve still gotta have the relationships to get to the right people to get to the right kids, to spend that money on. Either that or you’re just going to have a bunch of money and overpay for mediocre players.

“So you’ve gotta have a good plan, even though you have the most money. I think if you look right now at what most people consider some of the top spenders in the sport, they’re not performing as well, probably, as what they spent. So you’ve gotta be able to spend it wisely.”