Early NC State Coaching Candidates Following Will Wade's Shocking Exit
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RALEIGH — With Will Wade officially abandoning NC State for his old LSU friends, the Wolfpack finds itself in a precarious situation. Athletic director Boo Corrigan and his staff must embark on the second coaching search in as many years and have less than two weeks to get a new leader for NC State men's basketball in the building before the transfer portal.
As the saga with Wade began in the early part of the week, many took to social media to speculate on who could be the replacement for a coach who rallied the fan base more than any NC State coach in recent history. Some options are more realistic than others and picking someone loyal to the soil might be what Corrigan needs to do to avoid a similar situation in the future. Still, Wade's departure stings greatly.
Justin Gainey, associate head coach at Tennessee
Much like the other two programs down the road in the Triangle have done, NC State could keep things in "the family" and hire Justin Gainey, who played point guard for the Wolfpack from 1996 to 2000. Currently, Gainey works as the associate head coach under Rick Barnes at Tennessee, a position he's held since 2022.
Gainey is in his 20th season as a coach, but has never gotten a chance as the head coach of a program, instead bouncing around as both an assistant and an administrator for several different programs. That lack of experience is certainly concerning and would be a very different hire compared to the massively experienced Wade. However, there would be a far greater emphasis on defense under Gainey than there was under the Wolfpack's former coach, who fielded a disastrous defense in year one.
The former Wolfpack guard has already been linked to the NC State job before, but Corrigan ultimately chose Wade during the search process. There could be a change in thinking around college basketball after several assistants from power conference schools were hired elsewhere. Jai Lucas is the primary ACC example, as he came in with a plan and immediately turned Miami into an NCAA Tournament team.
Whether Gainey could do the same at NC State remains to be seen, but he will certainly be in the mix to return to the program where he cut his teeth as a basketball player.
Josh Schertz, head coach at Saint Louis
After a 29-6 season at Saint Louis that saw the Billikens defeat Georgia in the round of 64 at the NCAA Tournament (A point Wade couldn't get to with far greater resources), Josh Schertz became a popular name floated in other high-profile coaching searches. However, he seemed to quell those rumors by agreeing to an extension with Saint Louis on March 13.
Just under two weeks later, Schertz will more than likely be brought up as a candidate for the NC State job, primarily because of some ties to the state. The SLU coach was an assistant at both Queens University of Charlotte and High Point for seven years, from 2001 to 2008. A return to the Hoop State for the Brooklyn-born coach might make sense for several reasons.
Schertz has an abundance of head coaching experience, which might appeal more to Corrigan than going with a more inexperienced candidate. He arrived at Saint Louis after a three-year run at Indiana State, in which he led the Sycamores to a 66-40 record. Schertz is 48-21 in two seasons at Saint Louis, but the brunt of his head coaching experience came at the Division-II level, where he had a 337-69 record at Lincoln Memorial.
Mike White, head coach at Georgia
Corrigan could go back to another candidate from the last coaching search, as Mike White was a name floated a year ago. There are some connections between Corrigan and Georgia's current head coach, as White is a member of the Notre Dame family by extension of his father, Kevin, who was the athletic director at Notre Dame from 2000 to 2008. Corrigan worked with Kevin White for four years.
White is another experienced name in the search, as he's been a head coach at the Division-I level since 2011 and was once one of the hottest commodities in the sport after taking over for Billy Donovan at Florida in 2015. White holds a 321-185 record across stops at Louisiana Tech, Florida and Georgia currently. Funnily enough, his Bulldogs were bounced emphatically from the 2026 NCAA Tournament by Schertz's Billikens.
From a résumé standpoint, it's hard to say whether White would be a major upgrade over Wade. The former NC State coach has a measly one Sweet 16 appearance across his career, something he hoped to change with the Wolfpack before ditching it for LSU. White made it to the Elite Eight once as the head coach of the Gators in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The floor with White would be clear, though.
Phil Martelli Jr., head coach at VCU
This would be a bit of a long shot for NC State, but Phil Martelli Jr. is one of the hottest young coaches in the sport after just one season at VCU. Going back to the VCU well might not seem appetizing after being burned by one of the Ram golden boys in Wade, but Martelli Jr. has nothing to do with the coaching tree Wade was a part of.
At 44, Martelli would give Corrigan and NC State a coach for a long time if he chose to come south after just a year with the Rams. Corrigan has a master's degree from VCU, so there's an affinity for how the Rams go about their business. Martelli did sign an extension through 2032 following his win over North Carolina in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, but NC State could buy him out and bring him in if he were interested.
Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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