The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544864
50 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. PACK PERSPECTIVE BY TIM PEELER N o, absolutely not. Will Wade's one-year tenure as men's basketball coach at NC State is a sting that all the tobacco juice in the world will not soothe. Wade's sudden return to LSU after a braggadocio-fueled season (20-14 overall, 10-8 ACC) that did not live up to expectations makes his coaching tenure the shortest at NC State since Tal Stafford served in an interim capacity in 1918-19. Rumors about Wade's exit be- gan in February, just a few months after LSU hired McNeese State's Wade Rousse as the president of its sprawling university system. Rousse and Wade had a strong re- lationship during Wade's two sea- sons at McNeese, and the rumors were strong, even in Raleigh, that a Baton Rouge reunion was in the works. The speculation intensi- fied when LSU hired Wade's close friend Heath Schroyer as a top athletics administrator shortly before Wade left State. The coach signed a seven-year, $30 million contract with the promise of a larger bundle of NIL money to spend on his roster. Wade's wrecked reckoning is similar in the modern era — if 60 years ago can be considered modern — only to the de- parture of Press Maravich, Hall of Fame coach Everett Case's hand-picked suc- cessor, also for LSU. Maravich left after two seasons (plus two games) as Case's top assistant and two seasons (minus two games) as head coach, for vastly different and slightly more understandable reasons. He always knew he would coach his superstar son "Pistol" Pete Maravich, who had long wanted to play for the Wolfpack but could never quite meet the ACC's more strin- gent academic standards of a minimum score of 800 on the SAT. LSU was a better academic fit for the former Broughton High All-America se- lection, who spent two seasons at North Carolina prep schools trying to get a qual- ifying score. The father-and-son duo made a lot of noise by going to the SEC, and Pete scored a lot of points (an NCAA-record 3,667 in just 83 varsity games for LSU from 1967- 70) but they never came close to winning a conference title or playing in the NCAA Tournament. Press left Baton Rouge two years after Pete did and had three miser- ably bad seasons as head coach at Ap- palachian State (12-51 overall, 4-24 in the Southern Conference) before completing his career as an athletics administrator at Campbell. Maybe it's true that LSU and the SEC have more available resources in the current transactional model of college basketball. However, neither has the historical and traditional success of the Wolfpack and the ACC. Since the Maraviches first went to Ba- ton Rouge to build a national power, State has two NCAA titles to none for LSU. Both have made three trips to the Final Four, and State has six ACC titles to LSU's one SEC Tournament crown. The years before then, specifically during the Case era, are no contest. For decades, that kind of tradition meant something in college sports. Now? Who knows. Re- cruits no longer look to play for legendary coaches, no longer want to play for blue-blood pro- grams without a hefty paycheck and no longer have the patience to help build a successful program. If this is truly what fans and television networks wanted when the transfer portal and NIL eras began, then so be it. Hold a grudge if you must. Wade's instincts to bring back some long-held traditions were appreciated but poorly executed. He did not make many friends on campus, despite his daily runs on Hillsborough Street. His staff was too independent and without much guidance. The Wolfpack will surely face Wade in the near future, espe- cially now that the NCAA has expanded its money-making tournament. The selection com- mittee likes forcing such head- to-head reunions, particularly in the early rounds. What once might have seemed like a betrayal of trust and professionalism is now merely part of the modern land- scape, just another coaching change in the world of (mostly) professional college sports. Players are paid handsomely. They come and go with the frequency of re- quest-for-giving emails. Coaches, as they always have, leave for greener bay- ous. And fans are left waiting for reasons to be optimistic. To be honest, it's hard to get too worked up about the entire affair. Maybe Justin Gainey's homecoming excitement and the program he hopes to build will prevent it from happening again too soon. Here's a little advice. Move on. Celebrate the return of a loyal NC State alum and the staff and roster he has begun building in the early stages of his time at his alma mater. Forget Wade, and his one season of in- tentional disruption. ■ Will Wade's tenure as head men's basketball coach was the shortest at NC State since Tal Stafford went 11-3 while serving on an interim basis during the 1918-19 season. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS In These Transactional Times, It's Best To Just Move On