By Brian Murphy and Ryan Bisesi, WRAL

RALEIGH — The Wolfpack got its man.

Now Will Wade is tasked with turning the NC State men’s basketball program into a consistent winner and elevating the Wolfpack at a time when ACC basketball is down.

NC State made its hire of Wade official Sunday.

“NC State’s rich tradition, passionate fan base, and location in one of the best cities in the country, make this a destination job, and I can’t wait to get started,” Wade said in a statement.

Wade, who was the head coach at McNeese State, signed a six-year contract, but financial terms were not immediately available. The contract must be approved by the university’s Board of Trustees.

Wade replaces Kevin Keatts, who was fired earlier this month after eight seasons in Raleigh. He will be formally introduced Tuesday. Photo opportunities with fans will begin at 3 p.m. at the coaches’ corner at the northwest corner of Reynolds Coliseum.

Wade, 42, guided McNeese State to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, upsetting his alma mater Clemson in the first round. McNeese State lost to No. 4 seed Purdue in Saturday’s second round.

In two seasons at McNeese State in Louisiana, Wade won back-to-back regular season and conference tournament titles. The Cowboys played in consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Their 2024 appearance was the school’s first in 22 years.

Wade is NC State athletics director Boo Corrigan’s first hire in football, men’s or women’s basketball or baseball. The hire comes just days after the school announced its new chancellor: NC State alum Kevin Howell. Howell will replace retiring Chancellor Randy Woodson, who has been in the position for 15 years.

“He is a tough coach with proven results on the court and he has grown and improved at every coaching stop,” Corriagan said. “He is known for having great relationships with his players and he will hold them, his staff and himself accountable. Will told me that he believes that he can win at NC State … and ‘win big.’ It didn’t take me too many conversations with him to believe it too.”

Consistent winner

Wade has won at every stop as a head coach, including two-year stints at Chattanooga and VCU before a five-year run at LSU that ended under a cloud of NCAA allegations and FBI investigation. Wade was fired in March 2022, nearly two years after the first reports of recruiting violations.

Wade is 246-105 as a head coach, including 50-9 over the last two seasons at McNeese State where he has rehabilitated his image and turned himself into a hot coaching commodity once again. Wade was suspended by the NCAA for the first 10 games of the 2023-24 season at McNeese State as a result of the investigation at LSU. He has reached the NCAA Tournament seven times in his last nine seasons as a head coach.

“I’m a believer in second chances,” Wade said after the Cowboys’ loss to Purdue. “A lot of people in our program are second chances, myself, the players. That’s kind of why we’re close. We got a lot of stuff that bonds us together and so I’m a big believer in it and hopefully we did right by the people who gave us a second chance.”

He has publicly taken on the coaching rumors in recent days, insisting on honest communication with his players, for whom success could also mean more opportunities at bigger schools with bigger paydays.

“We addressed it head on,” Wade said before the NCAA Tournament. “I talked to them Saturday [March 16] about it. Here’s what it is, here is where we are. It was just me and our players and we all talked about it. I’m aware of what I have got going on. They’re aware of what we’ve got going on. You just hit it head on. We’re all on the same page with everything.”

End of the Keatts’ era

NC State fired Kevin Keatts after the Wolfpack ended its season 12-19 and failed to qualify for the 15-team ACC Tournament. Keatts’ dismissal came less than a year after he led the Wolfpack to the ACC Tournament title (its first since 1987) and the Final Four (its first since 1983) with a stunning nine-game winning streak in the postseason.

Keatts went 151-113 in eight seasons with NC State. He reached the NCAA Tournament three times, including in 2023 and 2024.

But as the team’s fortunes sagged in 2025, fans appeared to turn on Keatts. Attendance lagged at Lenovo Center.

The coaching search and, especially, the interest in Wade sparked an outpouring of donations and new memberships to the athletic department’s collective — vital support in the transfer portal and NIL era.

“With a proven track record of excellence and a commitment to building a supportive culture for student-athletes, Will is the perfect leader to guide the Pack basketball program to new heights,” said Woodson, the outgoing chancellor.

The transfer portal opens on March 24.

NC State used the transfer market extensively in recent years with most of the stars on its 2024 Final Four roster coming from other schools. Six players on NC State exhausted their eligibility at the end of the season.

Wade said he players had enhanced opportunities from other schools during their March run.

“All the guys know we’ve got their best interests at heart,” Wade said Saturday. “We’re not trying to hold anything back, and if we’re the best situation for you, by all means. If we’re not the best situation, we’ll help you find a good situation. We want everybody to be successful. That’s what we’re supposed to be in this for, right? The rules of engagement have changed a little bit, but instead of fighting it, we just embrace it and move forward.”

Wade was an assistant coach at Clemson under Larry Shyatt and Oliver Purnell. He will be one of at least four new coaches in the ACC with Jai Lucas (Miami), Luke Loucks (Florida State) and Ryan Odom (Virginia). The league is undergoing significant change as longtime successful coaches depart the conference. The 18-team ACC earned four berths in the NCAA Tournament, its lowest percentage of teams qualifying for the event since the tournament’s expansion in 1985.

Louisville, Clemson and North Carolina, which won in the First Four, were all eliminated in the first round, leaving top-seeded Duke as the lone ACC team remaining in the Round of 32. It is the first time since the tournament allowed multiple teams from conferences that the ACC has not placed multiple teams in the final 32.

Source: wralsportsfan.com