LSU Announces Will Wade to Return as Men’s Basketball Coach – LSU

BATON ROUGE — LSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Verge Ausberry announced on Thursday that Will Wade has been chosen to lead the future of the LSU men’s basketball program.

Coach Wade returns to Baton Rouge for his second stint as head coach, having previously served from 2017-22.

His previous five-year tenure at LSU was noted for consistent winning and a return of interest in the basketball program.

He will be the first LSU Basketball coach to return to LSU to reassume the head coach position since Harry Rabenhorst, whose 29-season tenure was split before and after World War II.

Wade replaces Matt McMahon, who has served as head men’s basketball coach for the past four seasons.

“We are excited to welcome Will back home as the next head coach of the LSU Men’s Basketball program,” said Verge Ausberry, LSU Vice President/Director of Athletics. “As LSU fans know well, Will is a consistent winner, a diligent program-builder, and a charismatic leader with an incredible ability to connect with his student-athletes and the fan base. Not only does he bring his postseason pedigree and an energetic presence, but he is innovative and strategic at a time in college athletics that requires both. We are thrilled to have Will and his family with us in Baton Rouge again.

“I want to thank Matt McMahon for his dedication and contributions to LSU and the basketball program over the last four seasons. He was a tremendous ambassador for the university and cared deeply about our student-athletes and our program. We wish him and his family all the best going forward.”

During Wade’s first stint as coach in Baton Rouge, the Tigers won a Southeastern Conference regular-season championship (2019), advanced to an SEC Tournament championship game (2021) for the first time since 1993 and the Tigers took part in four postseason tournaments (NIT, 2018; NCAA 2019; 2021; 2022; the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.).

LSU, in Wade’s last four seasons as head coach (2019-22), won 48 regular-season SEC games, tied for the second most of any team over that period.

LSU won 20 games or more in three-of-the-five-seasons Wade was at LSU and finished his first stint with a record of 105-51. He finished 55-33 in the SEC over that time. He will have a chance to move further up the LSU career men’s basketball coaching list, having won the fourth most games in his first five years on the job.

“This was not an easy decision, because of how much respect and appreciation I have for NC State, but the opportunity to return to Louisiana State University is deeply personal,” said Wade. “This is our chance to come home — to a place that has shaped me, where the passion for basketball runs deep, and where the expectations match the opportunity.

“LSU represents something bigger — it’s about competing at the highest level in the best conference in the country, in front of one of the most passionate fan bases in college basketball. The resources, the commitment, and the alignment at LSU makes it a place where we can build something special and sustainable.

“I’m incredibly excited about the challenge ahead — about developing young men, competing for championships, and representing the state of Louisiana with pride. There’s a standard at LSU, and I’m energized to embrace it fully. I can’t wait to get home and get to work.”

When he arrived in Baton Rouge in 2017, Wade wanted to make LSU basketball, a program which has had ultimate highs followed by periods of lows, be a consistent player on the college basketball scene.

He put together a program with good players that produced consistent winning, regular postseason tournament appearances and playing an exciting brand of basketball that would see the Tigers contend for a top spot yearly in the Southeastern Conference.

Coach Wade was able to check many of those boxes of program building and program stability that he set out to accomplish when he was named the 22nd head coach of the LSU program on March 20, 2017.

The Tigers advanced to the round of 16 in the NIT in 2018, to the Sweet 16 in the 2019 NCAA Championship, to the second round of the NCAAs in 2021 and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022.

In 2019, Coach Wade, his staff and players put together a team that posed a 16-2 record in the SEC, winning the 11th regular season title in school history.

He was the first LSU mentor to get the Tigers to postseason play in both of his first two seasons on the job. He is one of just five LSU coaches to lead his team to an SEC Championship and one of just four to take a team to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Among the players that graced the floor of the Maravich Center in Wade’s first five years at LSU include: point guard Tremont Waters, a first-team All-SEC selection and co-SEC Defensive Player of the Year; Naz Reid, a SEC All-Freshman team selection, who is still playing in the NBA.

There was guard Skylar Mays, who played three years with coach Wade and staff, finished his career with 1,600 points, 450 rebounds, 350 assists and 200 assists. The first-team All-SEC selection also showed his ability off the floor when he was named the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America of the Year for DI men’s basketball and earned the league’s McWhorter post-graduate award, the highest individual player honor in the SEC.

Also staring for the Tigers were All-SEC forwards Trendon Watford and Darius Days, point guard Javonte Smart; the nation’s top freshman scorer in Cam Thomas; and, SEC Sixth Man of the Year Tari Eason.

Along with Reid, Watford, Thomas and Eason have all had solid NBA careers and Days has found his niche in the National Basketball League in Australia.

It is a success story that Coach Wade has experienced before coming to LSU for the first time and then in the past three years before returning to LSU.

PRIOR TO LSU

Wade’s coaching start came at Clemson where he served as student manager of the Clemson men’s basketball team from 2002 to 2005 under head coaches Larry Shyatt and Oliver Purnell. It was Purnell who gave him further opportunities as a graduate assistant (2005-06) and Director of Operations (2006-07).

He served as an assistant on Tommy Amaker’s staff at Harvard in 2007-09 as Amaker’s first hire as assistant coach.

Wade made his first stop at VCU when Shaka Smart hired him as his first assistant coach hire prior to the 2019-10 season. Wade stayed until the end of the 2013 season as VCU scored 113 wins in that time, reached three NCAA Tournaments and won the 2012 Colonial Athletic Association Championship. He was part of the staff in 2011 when VCU advanced the NCAA First Four all the way to the NCAA Final Four in Houston.

Wade is credited with being a key figure in four top non-power five recruiting classes in his time at VCU.

The head coaching portion of the Nashville, Tennessee, native’s career came to fruition in 2013-14 when he began a two-year stint at Chattanooga.

His first Mocs squad went 18-15 in 2014, finishing 12-6 and second in regular season Southern Conference play. The 18 wins overall were the most by the program since 2008-09 as the team made the school’s first postseason appearance since 2009 in the CIT.

Wade was honored with the Anton Foy Southern Conference Coach of the Year award in 2014.

Chattanooga won 22 games in 2015 and 15-3 in the league as the team won 20 games for the first time since 2004-05. In his two seasons, he was 40-25 and 27-7 in league play.

From Chattanooga, Coach Wade returned to Richmond as the head coach at VCU, where he also served two years (2015-17).

The Rams were 51-20 in those two years and made two NCAA appearances. The 2016 Rams advanced to the second round of the tournament. At the time, Wade was the youngest head coach in the NCAA Tournament.

The Rams were 28-8 over his two years in the Atlantic 10, posting 14-4 records both years. The 2016 team was 25-11 and earned a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season crown. The 2017 team won 26 games and finished second in the league.

MCNEESE / NC STATE

Prior to the 2023-24 season, Wade was hired as the head basketball coach at McNeese State University in Lake Charles where he turned the program completely around in two seasons, winning back-to-back Southland Conference regular season and tournament championships and was twice named SLC Coach of the Year. He compiled a 50-9 record at McNeese, including a 33-1 home record.

In 2025, Wade led McNeese to its first NCAA Tournament win, beating Clemson 69-67 in the first round of the tournament.

Coach Wade moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference and NC State during the 2025-26 season, winning 20 games as he has at least once at every head coaching stop, with 10 ACC wins and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

He has now served as head coach a total of 12 seasons with a 266-119 record (69.0 percent) and his teams have 10 postseason appearances, including eight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Wade is married to the former Lauren Deason of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the couple has one daughter, Caroline.

The Will Wade File

Seasons Coached at LSU (as of March 2026): Five
Birthdate: Nov. 26, 1982
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
High School: Franklin Road Academy
College: Clemson, 2005
Wife: Lauren Deason
Child: Caroline Elizabeth

College Coaching Experience

2005-06 – Clemson, Graduate Assistant
2006-07 – Clemson, Director of Operations
2007-09 – Harvard, Assistant Coach
2009-13 – VCU, Assistant Coach
2013-15 – Chattanooga, Head Coach
2015-17 – VCU, Head Coach
2017-22 – LSU, Head Coach
2023-25 – McNeese State, Head Coach
2025-26 – NC State, Head Coach
March 26, 2026 – Named LSU Head Coach