Will Wade on McNeese tenure: 'Hopefully we did right by the people who gave us a second chance'

After two seasons leading the McNeese State Cowboys, head coach Will Wade is now on to the next challenge at NC State. However, as his team was knocked out of the second round of the NCAA Tournament, he did have the opportunity to reflect on his tenure with the program.

For Wade, his McNeese State tenure was one of second chances. That’s how he’s going to remember it and, as he prepares to walk away from it, he also hopes that he did right by those people who gave him this opportunity.

“Yeah, I’m a believer in second chances,” Will Wade said. “A lot of the people in our program are second chances. Myself, the players. That’s kind of why we’re close. We’ve got a lot of stuff that bonds us together and so I’m a big believer in it and hopefully we did right by the people who gave us a second chance.”

Will Wade was a rapidly rising star in the college basketball coaching ranks and found himself at LSU, taking over an SEC program while still in his 30s. However, scandal found him in Baton Rouge. He lost that job when the NCAA delivered a Notice of Allegations against Wade and the program for recruiting violations. That was in 2022 and it threatened to either end or extremely stunt his career until McNeese State offered him the opportunity in 2023.

While at McNeese State, Wade was forced to serve a suspension for those violations at LSU. However, he quickly built the program into one of the best mid-majors in the country. In two seasons there, the Cowboys went 60-11 overall and 50-9 in games Wade coached. They won the conference regular season and tournament title both seasons, making the NCAA Tournament twice.

Will Wade outlines next steps for McNeese after pending NC State departure

Will Wade will now continue his career at NC State in the ACC. Despite that, in the aftermath of their NCAA Tournament loss, Wade wanted to keep his focus on the next steps and McNeese State.

“I’ll worry about that tomorrow. Look, I’m an honest guy, but today I want to put a bow on everything at McNeese, if we can. That’ll be up to whatever else happens. But right now I want to worry about McNeese. This is about our players at McNeese right now. We’re not flying back until (Sunday) morning, so we’ll enjoy this here and then when we get back, we’ll figure out next steps,” Wade said.

“But I do want to say, whatever happens, our program at McNeese is in great shape. We have tremendous leadership. We’re not dumb. We have a plan to keep this program rolling, whoever is at the helm. And this program is going to keep moving in the right direction, this program is going to keep winning. I really believe we’re just getting started.”