With McNeese State’s magical 2025 NCAA Tournament run now officially over, Will Wade is moving on. After rumors of his reported agreement to become NC State’s next head basketball coach, Wade officially put pen to paper immediately following McNeese State’s second-round loss to Purdue.
Within hours of the official result, Wade signed a six-year deal with NC State, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported. Wade will succeed Kevin Keatts, whom the Wolfpack fired after eight middling seasons.
Wade ends his run with McNeese State with a combined 50-9 record across two seasons. He led the Cowboys to a Southland Conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance in both years. The team’s 69-67 first-round win over Clemson was the first March Madness victory in school history.
However, after their viral round-one win, McNeese State could not generate any sort of momentum to pull off another potential upset over Purdue. The Boilermakers feasted on the smaller Cowboys, preventing Wade’s team from maintaining any sort of consistency. Center Trey Kaufman-Renn dominated the paint with 22 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and one block to end the Cinderella story before it even began.
Will Wade takes over dysfunctional NC State basketball team
Wade takes over the NC State program that went just 12-19 in 2024-2025, finishing third-to-last in the ACC. The disappointing result led to the Wolfpack’s second losing season of the past four years.
The wayward season caused NC State to miss the postseason altogether after making a Final Four run the previous year. To make matters worse, the Wolfpack are expected to lose all five of their leading scorers, who have exhausted their collegiate eligibility.
Though Wade was likely to rebuild the roster to form his own anyway, he will essentially start the program over from scratch. If they desire, two of McNeese State’s five starters — Quadir Copeland and Sincere Parker — could potentially follow him to NC State from the transfer portal.
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