Will Wade leaving NC State after one season ‘to go home’ for second stint as LSU head coach

He’s baaaaack.

After only one season as NC State’s men’s basketball coach, Will Wade is leaving the Wolfpack to return to LSU, he said in a statement. To make way for Wade, LSU intends to fire coach Matt McMahon on Thursday, weeks after the end of his fourth season without an NCAA Tournament appearance.

“This was not an easy decision, because of how much respect and appreciation I have for this program and this university,” Wade said. “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.

“I’ll always be grateful for my time here, the relationships we built, and the foundation we helped strengthen. NC State is positioned for continued success, and I’ll be cheering them on moving forward.”

At the time Wade released his statement, LSU had not announced McMahon’s dismissal, nor had NC State released a statement regarding his departure.

Rumblings about Wade potentially returning to LSU — where he went 105-51 from 2018 to 2022, rising to national prominence in the process — have persisted all season. But that chatter reached a fever pitch recently, as the Tigers began hiring many of Wade’s former associates. LSU hired former McNeese president Wade Rousse as its new president in Nov. 2025 and earlier this week hired McNeese athletic director Heath Schroyer (who hired Wade at McNeese) as a senior administrator. Wade also has a longstanding relationship with Louisiana governor Jeff Landry — who pushed for the Tigers to hire Wade last spring, according to a source close to Wade — as well as Lee Mallett, the chairman of LSU’s Board of Supervisors.

Wade’s name, image and likeness and revenue-sharing resources are expected to outweigh those that he had at NC State this season, a source added.

Put otherwise: There are millions of reasons for one of college basketball’s most polarizing figures to fully embrace his black hat.

Wade, 44, rose to national prominence as LSU’s coach, as much for his success — including winning the 2019 SEC regular-season title and producing multiple pros — as for the way his Tigers tenure ended. After LSU received multiple allegations of NCAA infractions on the eve of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Wade was unceremoniously fired, eventually receiving a two-year show-cause penalty and 10-game suspension from the governing body. That was, in part, a result of the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball, which included Wade infamously being caught on a federal wiretap lamenting one “strong-ass offer” he’d made a recruit — in the pre-NIL era — that didn’t yield a commitment.

After a season out of coaching, Wade returned to college hoops at McNeese in 2023-24, leading the Cowboys to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. He then signed a six-year, $17.25 million contract with NC State in March. The Wolfpack went 20-14 in Wade’s only season in Raleigh, barely making the NCAA Tournament and losing 68-66 to Texas in the First Four.

Wade’s buyout with NC State drops from $5 million to $3 million on April 1, per the terms of his contract, and it remains possible that Wade and NC State reach a settlement, a source added.

Asked directly about his interest in LSU at the ACC tournament in early March, Wade unequivocally said he intended to stay at NC State:  “We’re gonna win and we’re going to win big at NC State. That’s what we’re gonna do moving forward, and we have the resources we need.”

After NC State’s First Four loss to Dayton, Wade doubled down on that sentiment, saying this season’s Wolfpack roster would be “the floor” for his tenure in Raleigh.

Which, technically, wasn’t wrong.

Especially since Wade, like many of the players he once landed at LSU, went one-and-done in Raleigh.

And in the process, he re-established himself as arguably the biggest-name villain in college basketball. Giddyup.