By Brian Murphy, WRAL

Will Wade isn’t shy about his ambitions for the NC State men’s basketball program he now leads, promising a restoration of the Wolfpack’s proud tradition.

And quickly.

“This is not a rebuild,” Wade said during his introductory press conference Tuesday at Reynolds Coliseum. “We’re going to be in the top part of the ACC next year and we’re going to be in the NCAA Tournament. This is not something that’s going to take a whole lot of time.”

The 42-year-old Wade, hired after a successful two-year stint at McNeese State, confidently told the room, filled with many of the Wolfpack’s biggest booster and Chancellor-elect Kevin Howell, that the program was headed for big things.

“Everybody is singing from the same sheet of music,” Wade said. “And, when that happens at NC State, it’s going to be a reckoning for the ACC and it’s going to be a reckoning for college basketball and it’s coming. And, it’s coming soon.”

Wade, 42, signed a six-year contract with NC State. Terms of the deal have not been released and still must be approved by the university’s Board of Trustees, which is scheduled to meet next week.

The Wolfpack won national titles in 1974 and 1983 and, through the end of the 1980s, competed on level footing with in-state ACC rivals Duke and North Carolina. But over the last four-plus decades, the program has fallen behind those “bully neighbors,” as Wade put it.

Former coach Kevin Keatts, fired at the end of the regular season after eight years, won the school’s first ACC Tournament title since 1987 and took the ‘Pack to its first Final Four since 1983 last season. But the program fell to 12-19 this season and, importantly, funding for name, image and likeness — the key to retaining and attracting talent in modern college basketball — plateaued.

Wade’s hire is a sign that the Wolfpack are ready to do more than win occasionally. He said the program should finish in the top four in the ACC and get good seeds in the NCAA Tournament, a consistency that allows for teams to breakthrough in the postseason.

“We don’t just want to compete,” athletics director Boo Corrigan said, “we want to win. And we want to win consistently. And we want to win big. And it didn’t take me long to be convinced that Will Wade is the person to lead us there.”

Wade has won everywhere he’s been — two years at Chattanooga (40-25), two years at VCU (51-20) and then five at LSU (105-51). It was at LSU that Wade’s quick ascent up the coaching ladder hit a major pitfall, a FBI investigation that led to NCAA allegations of recruiting violations. Wade was fired in 2022 before the NCAA Tournament.

Wade said his tumultuous tenure at LSU and firing changed him. He was suspended for the first 10 games of his McNeese State tenure as a result of the NCAA penalties.

“You’re going to get that same passion and competitive fire that I had at LSU without all the arrogance that got me in trouble,” Wade said.

Later he added: “What that experience taught me was just to have a little better perspective on things and everything’s not life or death. Every recruit’s not life or death. We can move on. There’s other people. Everything’s not nearly as important, maybe, as I thought it was at the time. Now don’t get me wrong, basketball and winning is very, very important, but I have a little bit better perspective now on where that fits in the grand scheme of things.”

At tiny McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Wade won back-to-back Southland regular season and conference titles, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament twice. McNeese State upset Clemson in the first round of the tournament before falling to Purdue — the same team that knocked NC State out of last year’s NCAA Tournament in the national semifinals.

Corrigan and Wade met for 2.5 hours in Houston, Texas, in the days after McNeese State won the Southland tournament on March 12. Corrigan spoke with several candidates in the process.

He largely operated alone, keeping outgoing Chancellor Randy Woodson abreast of developments. Howell, who starts in May, spoke to Wade during the search process.

There were few available jobs in the southeast, where Wade has spent his entire head coaching career. But when Indiana hired West Virginia coach Darian DeVries on March 18 suddenly there was one, creating some unease.

Soon after, however, Wade had agreed to become the Wolfpack’s next head coach. During NCAA Tournament press conferences, Wade said he had been upfront with his players about what was next.

“I win girlfriend of the year.” pic.twitter.com/YCZ6RM98Br

— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) March 25, 2025

“We’re getting a more mature version of Will Wade,” Corrigan said. “Think about the idea of being 35 years old or younger as the head coach, and I imagine your head gets a little big as you’re going through it. And the guy wins everywhere he goes, and all of a sudden, there’s a break. It’s an opportunity to grow and I think that’s what we’re about. We’re about second chances. … It’s about what can we do to bring this program back on a consistent basis and win. And that was my takeaway leaving Houston.”

NC State fans made their preference clear throughout. Membership in the One Pack NIL Collective is up 40% since Keatts was fired. The collective now has more than 2,000 members, providing helpful resources for Wade and his staff. Wade said Corrigan gave him a figure for NIL and revenue sharing — direct payments from the school to players which is expected to be implemented this summer — and that the number has risen since then.

After his press conference, Wade signed autographs and posed for pictures with hundreds of NC State fans, who had lined up outside Reynolds Coliseum.

“People are so excited to hear what Coach Wade has to say because I think he’s speaking directly to our fans,” said Chris Vurnakes, executive director of the collective. “Speaking as an alumni, we want to compete. We don’t want to say, oh, we know they’re better than us, but we’re going to do it the best we can. We’re going to jump right in there and be NC State and win championships. We are doing it in so many other sports. We can do it in men’s basketball. We’re a year removed from the ACC championship. We know we can.”

Wade met with the team Monday shortly after arriving in Raleigh.

Several members of his expected staff were in attendance Tuesday, including general manager/chief strategist/assistant coach Andrew Slater (formerly a scout with the Oklahoma City Thunder) and assistant general manager Patrick Stacy, the founder of the analytics-based Jam Basketball Intelligence and former GM at Wyoming. Reed Vial, a special assistant to the head coach at McNeese State, flew with Wade to Raleigh and will be on the staff. Brandon Chambers, an assistant at McNeese, is expected to be on the staff, too.

Wade said student manager Amir Khan, who has become a viral sensation and signed NIL deals of his own, could come to NC State if that’s what’s best for him.

Wade said he couldn’t give specifics because the hiring process was still playing out. He said completing his staff and recruiting were his top priorities.

“We’ve got everything we need to compete and win and we’ve got everything we need and we’ve got the relationships and the resources to get the players,” Wade said. “This is a players’ game. I mean it’s the horse, it’s not the jockey. You’re only as good as the players and so we’ve got everything that we need to go attract the best players in the country and starting tomorrow morning, that’s what we’re going to go do.”

Wade said he expects his first Wolfpack team to be filled with transfers. All or nearly all of the current NC State roster is not expected to return. He said ideally NC State would annually add two or three freshmen — one impact prospect and the others developmental — and three or four transfers.

“That’s the formula to building a good program, a good team, but the first two years, that’s not how this is going to be,” Wade said, noting the Wolfpack would be transfer heavy.

Wade said if a player enters the portal, he will still meet with them and bring them back to the roster, if that’s what is best.

“We want guys who want to be at NC State,” Wade said. “We want people that are excited about being at NC State, excited about what we’re about to do and the road that we’re getting ready to take and, whoever that is, we’ll coach them and love them up and get them ready to compete at the top of the ACC.”

Source: wralsportsfan.com