BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) 鈥� Will Wade doesn鈥檛 ignore the firestorm that has followed him for almost a decade since the previous time he was LSU鈥檚 men鈥檚 basketball coach.
鈥淲e鈥檙e coming back to try to hang a banner, win a national championship, or I鈥檓 going to be the first coach fired from the same school twice,鈥� Wade said at his introductory news conference Monday as he officially became the first SEC men鈥檚 head basketball coach in history to be fired and re-hired by the same school. 鈥淥ne way or another, we鈥檙e going to make history.鈥�
In his first LSU stint from 2017-22, Wade was 105-51 with an SEC regular-season championship and three NCAA tournament appearances. LSU fired him in March 2022 for his involvement in NCAA Level I and Level II recruiting violations.
After sitting out a season, followed by two years as head coach for McNeese State and N.C. State this past season, he鈥檚 back at LSU. The Tigers fired Matt McMahon, Wade鈥檚 predecessor, after he went 60-70 overall and 17-55 in the SEC in four seasons.
Immediately, former McNeese president and now-LSU president Wade Rousse began pursuing Wade. He won two Southland Conference championships and went 1-2 in the NCAA tournament with the Lake Charles, La.-based school.
鈥淎t LSU, we do not gather to celebrate mediocrity,鈥� Rousse said. 鈥淲e do not aim to simply be competitive. We aim to be elite. We want to win national championships. That is the standard. That is the expectation. That is why we are here today.鈥�
In luring Wade from N.C. State, where he was 20-14 (including an NCAA tournament First Four loss to Texas), LSU signed him to a seven-year, $30 million deal, a commitment of a roster budget exceeding $12 million, and paid his $4 million buyout.
Wade鈥檚 abrupt departure from N.C. State was a stunner. He expressed optimism less than three weeks ago about the future of the Wolfpack program.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited to be at N.C. State,鈥� Wade said on March 12 after his team was eliminated from the ACC tournament. 鈥淚 was hired at N.C. State to do a job. We鈥檙e going to win and we鈥檙e going to win big at N.C. State.鈥�
Nine days later, LSU announced it had re-hired Wade, shocking N.C. State athletic director Boo Corrigan.
鈥淚 believed he was telling me his true intentions,鈥� Corrigan said. 鈥淭here was no reason for me in my job not to believe the words that I was hearing coming back to me from Coach Wade.鈥�
Wade, heavily criticized by national media, said he鈥檚 at peace about his N.C. State departure.
鈥淚 long ago quit worrying about my perception,” Wade said. 鈥淣.C. State was great to me. I think some of the things have been mischaracterized on how I left. They鈥檙e pretty mad for a coach they didn鈥檛 think was very good. That鈥檚 the way it goes.鈥�
Wade is 266-119 with eight NCAA tournament appearances in 12 seasons as a head coach at five different schools. But he views LSU as different than the rest.
鈥淚鈥檝e never connected with a fan base and with people like I have with LSU and Louisiana,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 feel like we left the book open a little bit. We left some chapters out there, and we left some chapters unfinished.鈥�
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