Will Wade Offers Additional Context on NC State Exit, Final Days
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RALEIGH — The messy 48 hours at NC State that built up to the sudden and shocking departure of the program's men's basketball coach, Will Wade, feel like an eternity ago. Many Wolfpack fans and even the school's athletic director, Boo Corrigan, have chosen to move on and embrace the new era with first-year coach Just Gainey, rather than dwell on what went down in the final days of Wade.
Still, the aftershock is still being felt, the animosity is very much there for many fans and Wade is still seemingly trying to explain his side of the story as he puts together his roster at LSU. Many pundits and fans took to social media to try to make sense of why he left, as well as take their shots at his many quirks during his short stint in Raleigh. Wade tried to add context to why he chose to return to the SEC on Tuesday.
What did Wade say?
The former NC State and new LSU coach joined CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein on his podcast, "Inside College Basketball Now," on Tuesday to discuss everything that's gone down over the last month. Unlike his bizarre introductory press conference in his return as the leader of the Tigers, Wade didn't deflect nearly as much when Rothstein asked about the abrupt exit from Raleigh.
"It was very difficult. It was something that I thought about quite a bit," Wade told Rothstein. "I stayed up that night when I knew that LSU would be a possibility and I had to weigh the pros and the cons. NC State was great during the year that I was there. The fan support is phenomenal... NC State is a tremendous basketball opportunity and basketball job. I know Coach Gainey will do an excellent job there."
Wade got to know just how passionate the Wolfpack fan base could be during his time at NC State, something he admitted he saw both sides of as a coach and after his abrupt exit. The vitriolic reaction to his departure and the various storylines that emerged after were, in some ways, fair and, for Wade, very much expected. The bitterness will almost certainly remain for years to come. The former leader of the Pack finally made one part of his exit clear: what pushed it over the top.
It ultimately came down to the administrative moves that LSU made over the last year, which included adding his former athletic director from McNeese State, Heath Schroyer, and his former university president at McNeese, Wade Rousse. He openly admitted that if those two were not in Baton Rouge, he would not have joined the program, likely sticking in Raleigh until another marquee SEC job opened up.
Will Wade working the phones on the the BTR Jets tarmac! #LSU @LSUBasketball pic.twitter.com/XIxpTsJMKp
— Mike Scarborough (@ScarboroughMike) March 26, 2026
"You've got to have alignment with your administration and we've got great alignment," the coach said. "I've worked with those guys before. I've worked with a lot of the other people here at LSU, who I'm very familiar with. You've got that alignment... It gives you an opportunity to do special things, do things that maybe haven't been done here in men's basketball in a long time... It's very rare that you have all of those pieces together."
One comment the former NC State coach made to Rothstein won't just sting for fans of the Wolfpack, but also for the conference the program is a part of. Wade said that LSU and the SEC generally has more resources than the Pack and the ACC have and their disposal. By all accounts, Corrigan and the administration in Raleigh did everything it could to give Wade the resources he said he needed.
What can Will Wade do at LSU that he couldn't do at NC State?https://t.co/c9JLel2QnF (Apple)https://t.co/EsZxIkca32 (Spotify)https://t.co/fJrlprbGfi (YouTube) pic.twitter.com/OuPCy2OyeF
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 5, 2026
LSU's resources and Wade's recruiting have amounted to just one transfer portal addition as of May 5, but the coach promised there's more help on the way in the form of a European contingent. It's a strategy Wade promised to explore at NC State after things went haywire with his roster down the stretch of the 2025-26 season, but he never had the opportunity to do so.
The hope for all parties is to move on from one another and to have success with their new endeavours. NC State believes it has the right person to lead its program in Gainey, a former Wolfpack player. Wade believes he's back in his true home at LSU.
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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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