Will Wade Lands on Intriguing Coach Rating List

RALEIGH — NC State made waves when its athletic administration decided on Will Wade as the next head coach of the men's basketball program. Wade redeemed himself after being fired by LSU for recruiting violations, all of which would've been legal in today's climate, by building a strong low-major program at McNeese State.

He's long been renowned by analysts and in coaching circles, coming up as an assistant under Shaka Smart at VCU. One of college basketball's most respected analysts, Ken Pomeroy, added a new head coach rankings to his website, which included a few notable coaches from the ACC. Did Wade make the cut?

The Rankings

Ken Pom is adding a coaching component to his preseason ratings and showed his top 25 coaches in the model, felt like some interesting names on here pic.twitter.com/nCR5rVb71b
— Cam Lemons Debro (@CamLemons_) October 10, 2025

Wade was included at No. 19 on the list. Pomeroy's metric for the coach is a unique one, as it doesn't measure a coach by skill, but more by what they add to the already compiled rating and strength of the team according to his model. It's less of a ranking and more of a rating.

A few other coaches from the ACC joined Wade on the list. Louisville's Pat Kelsey came in at No. 4, Kyle Smith of Stanford at No. 7 and Steve Forbes of Wake Forest at No. 10. Kelsey and Smith have long been darlings of the advanced metrics, with Smith utilizing his 'nerdball' analytics at Stanford as he tries to rebuild the Cardinal. Like Smith, Wade also relies heavily on analytics and advanced stats to help his team win games.

Analytics Under Wade

Oct 8, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; NC State player Darrion Williams answers questions from the media at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: William Howard-Imagn Images | William Howard-Imagn Images

Wade's players are well aware of their coach's passion for the numbers. At a time, the coach wanted to be a history teacher. He's a skilled orator, but one of his stars sometimes doesn't exactly know what he's talking about.

"Some of the numbers he says, I don't even understand. He rattles them off a lot throughout practice. Even when I was being recruited," forward Darrion Williams said. "But he's very intentional with what he says and everything he knows. You've got to kind of pick what you understand and then if you don't understand it, ask him questions, but he's a pretty smart guy."

Williams will try to utilize some of those advanced statistics in the Wolfpack's quest for ACC relevance in the 2025-26 season.

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