LSU lures Wade back as it fires coach McMahon

LSU's clumsy courtship to bring back coach Will Wade is complete.

Wade said in a statement posted to X on Thursday that he is leaving his job as the men's basketball coach at NC State to return to LSU. He was suspended as the Tigers' coach for the 2019 NCAA tournament while at LSU and later fired amid an NCAA probe that left the program with significant sanctions.

"This was not an easy decision, because of how much respect and appreciation I have for this program and this university," Wade said in his statement. "But the opportunity to return to Louisiana State University is deeply personal. It's a chance to go home -- to a place that means a great deal to me and my family."

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LSU's courtship of Wade, which has been reported widely in recent days, all played out before the school fired coach Matt McMahon. That move came Thursday, sources told ESPN. It had been widely speculated on for months, as Wade publicly pledged his loyalty to NC State as recently as the ACC tournament when asked about LSU.

The dominoes that needed to fall for Wade to return started in the governor's offices. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who was outspoken during the firing of football coach Brian Kelly this fall, maintains a strong relationship with Wade.

The first domino for Wade's return came when LSU fired former athletic director Scott Woodward last fall. Part of Woodward's fallout with Landry stemmed from not firing McMahon and bringing back Wade last year.

The next domino was the hiring of LSU president Wade Rousse, who hired Wade at McNeese in the aftermath of Wade's NCAA issues. Rousse came to LSU in November, and hired McNeese AD Heath Schroyer this week, who is close to Wade.

For months in the basketball landscape, rumblings of a reunion of Rousse, Schroyer and Wade loomed, as all three are closely aligned with Landry.

In one of the most awkward recent moments in college athletics, all of this has played out publicly while McMahon still had a job.

It also leaves NC State's administration vulnerable for criticism, as its hiring of Wade came with the obvious risk that he'd return to LSU. NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan has helped Wade clean up his reputation before he is set to skip town after a season of modest success that ended with a First Four loss.

McMahon went 60-70 in four years, including a 17-55 record in SEC play. After being snakebit by injuries this year, a giant buyout hung over any LSU decision on McMahon. LSU would also have to pay NC State a significant amount, as Wade's buyout to leave before April 1 is more than $5 million. It drops to $3 million after April 1.

LSU will owe McMahon more than $8 million, in part because of the instability that Wade left the program in. McMahon agreed to a seven-year deal when hired in 2022, an unusually long deal in part because of the scholarship and recruiting restrictions Wade left behind.

McMahon has three years remaining on that seven-year deal, which will put LSU in position of paying a second unusually large buyout this year. LSU owes Kelly $54 million after firing him this fall, one of the biggest buyouts in college football history.

LSU clumsily attempted to push back on the buyout in the wake of harsh public comments by Landry. After a month of legal back-and-forth, LSU sent Kelly a letter formally firing him without cause.

The move by LSU, which is expected to start Wade's contract at a little less than $5 million a year, is part of one of the biggest spending binges recently by a university.

In the past four months, LSU has put more than $60 million in dead money on the books. (McMahon's staff is expected to be owed at least another $1 million, and LSU also paid $3 million to hire football coach Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss.)

The hiring of Kiffin has led to a roster spending spree that's expected to have LSU paying more than $40 million. And the hiring of Wade is expected to put LSU in the higher echelon of SEC schools for basketball, as they lagged toward the bottom consistently during McMahon's tenure.

Wade's return to Baton Rouge comes just over four years after LSU fired him on the eve of the NCAA tournament.

The school received a notice of allegations from the NCAA detailing five Level I violations and a Level II violation involving Wade, ultimately leading to a two-year show-cause order and a 10-game suspension in June 2023 for three Level I violations.

Wade was found to have made impermissible payments to the former fiancée of a player, while also failing to cooperate in an investigation and failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

Wade was also suspended shortly before the 2019 NCAA tournament after reports revealed that a federal wiretap captured him discussing a "strong-ass offer" for a recruit.

Wade spent five seasons as the head coach at LSU from 2018 to 2022, leading the Tigers to three out of four NCAA tournaments, including the program's first SEC regular-season title in a decade in 2019. He went 105-51 overall at LSU.

McNeese hired Wade in 2023, and he immediately brought the Cowboys to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2002. Buoyed by an influx of NIL funding and transfer portal talent, Wade won 58 games in two seasons at McNeese, going 36-2 in conference play and advancing to a pair of NCAA tournaments. The Cowboys upset 5-seed Clemson in the first round last year before falling to Purdue.

Shortly before McNeese's NCAA tournament game against Clemson last year, Wade reached an agreement to take over at NC State.

Wade's arrival brought plenty of preseason attention to Raleigh, even coining the "red reckoning" tagline about the Wolfpack's potential to disrupt the perceived pecking order of the ACC.

This season started in that fashion, with NC State going on a six-game winning streak in the middle of conference play to improve to 18-6 overall and 9-2 in the ACC. The Wolfpack, however, would lose six of their final seven games to end the regular season and were ultimately placed in the First Four on Selection Sunday.

Their season ended last Tuesday with a 68-66 loss to Texas.