The Impact of the Justin Gainey Hire For NC State

RALEIGH — NC State made things official Monday when it hired Justin Gainey to be the 22nd men’s basketball coach in program history. With the former player finalized as the program’s new face, the shift immediately shifted to fixing things in the aftermath of the previous regime’s decision to suddenly leave NC State.

Will Wade’s exit shocked Wolfpack fans and left athletic director Boo Corrigan with a sizable mess to clean up. Hiring a former player intimately familiar with the mindset of being a part of the Wolfpack should help turn things around quickly, as well as maintain a level of fan interest and support that Wade achieved in his lone season at the helm of the program, which ended in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

A quick turnaround

NC State is fresh off a 20-win season under Wade. The year was viewed by some as a success in what the former coach set out to achieve in the first phase of his tenure, but his lofty promises and personal expectations weren’t met. All signs pointed to him coaching through the unfinished business, but he was lured back to LSU by old friends and a different kind of unfinished business.

Less than a week later, enter Gainey, the Wolfpack’s new savior, returning to Raleigh like a long-lost son. After two decades of experience as an assistant coach or associate head coach, he’ll come with more experience than fellow alumni hire Sidney Lowe. The speed of the hire should help Corrigan and the athletic department maintain some of the momentum from the Wade era.

Transfer time

Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey during a NCAA Tournament Elite 8 game between Tennessee and Michigan at the United Center in Chicago on March 29, 2026. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Gainey will have enough time to get a staff in place, but more importantly, a roster. With the transfer portal set to open on April 7, NC State needed to move fast during the search process, but entered with experience, having just completed a search in 2025 after moving on from Kevin Keatts.

Given his work as a high-level recruiter across multiple stops, including Tennessee and Arizona, Gainey has relationships with top players all over the country, including a few left in limbo on the Wolfpack roster following Wade’s departure. Those connections will give NC State’s new coach a head start in the roster construction phase.

Tennessee’s season came to an end with Sunday’s loss to Michigan in the Elite Eight, after which Gainey refused to comment on the NC State job situation. It would make sense that one question during the interview process would have been about Gainey’s plan for attacking the transfer portal with limited time.

That exact process proved highly problematic in Wade’s first season, as the team he built on the fly ended up being a jigsaw puzzle for the new coach, which he never solved. The hope is that Gainey avoids the same pitfall, especially with the extra time to prepare.

A long-term solution

Mar 11, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; NC State Wolfpack head coach Will Wade reacts in the first half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

A major issue with Wade’s hiring was the lack of connection to the fan base and understanding of the school’s culture. Wade wanted NC State to compete with Duke and North Carolina right away, without first building trust between his strategy and the fan base. When things went wrong, Wade found himself on the defensive, rather than focusing on improving his team’s standing.

Whether his concern about the program’s ability to compete with the top competition in the ACC led to his exit or not remains to be seen, but NC State always needed to find a replacement with a different level of loyalty to the program. Corrigan explained what his ideal candidate looked like on the day Wade’s plane left for Baton Rouge.

“Someone who wants to be at NC State, understands who we are, understands that we're a tough school, understands that we're a great academic institution and understands that our fan base has very high expectations and can embrace that," Corrigan said.

In hindsight, Gainey checks all of those boxes, given his career as a player with the Wolfpack from 1996 to 2000. He even called NC State “home” when asked about the opening earlier in the week. He’ll have a chance to come home now and lead a program he’s dreamed about coaching.