Will Wade - Head Coach

Will Wade was announced as head coach of the NC State men's basketball program on March 23, 2025.

A native of Nashville, Tenn., Wade has previously served as head coach at VCU, LSU and McNeese. He brings 11 years of head coaching experience to the Wolfpack and has led his programs to seven NCAA Tournament berths, including appearances in the last five.

Wade has spent the past two seasons at McNeese, where he led the Cowboys to back-to-back Southland Conference regular season and tournament championships and was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year both seasons. He compiled a 50-9 record at McNeese, including a 33-1 home record.

He leaves McNeese as the winningest coach in Southland Conference history in terms of winning percentage with a .947 mark (36-2) in regular season conference contests. 

The 42-year-old served as head coach at LSU for five seasons (2017-2022), leading the Tigers to a Southeastern Conference regular season championship in 2019. LSU advanced to four post-season tournaments (including consecutive NCAA Tournaments in 2019, 2021 and 2022) during his tenure and in 2021 advanced to the SEC Tournament championship game for the first time since 1993.

In his last four seasons (2019-22) with the Tigers, his squads won 48 regular season SEC games, tied for the second-most of any team over that period.

LSU won 20 games or more in three of his five seasons and Wade finished his time at LSU with a record of 105-51, including a 55-33 SEC mark during that time. His 105 wins ranked him as the fourth-winningest coach in LSU Basketball history. 

Prior to LSU, Wade spent two seasons at VCU, where he directed the Rams to a 51-20 record and two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. His 2016 squad advanced to the second round of the tournament, defeating seventh-seed Oregon State before losing to Oklahoma. That season, Wade was the youngest head coach to appear in the NCAA Tournament.

The Rams posted a 28-8 league record over his two years in the Atlantic 10, posting 14-4 records both years. The team was 25-11 in 2016 and earned a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season crown. The 2017 team won 26 games and finished second in the league. 

Wade began his collegiate head coaching career as the head coach at Chattanooga for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

His first Mocs squad went 18-15 in 2014, finishing 12-6 and second in regular-season Southern Conference play. The 18 wins overall were the most by the program since 2008-09 and the 12 wins in league play were the highest total since 2010-11. Wade was honored with the Anton Foy Southern Conference Coach of the Year award for his efforts in 2014.

The Mocs won 22 games in 2015 and finished 15-3 in the league as Wade guided Chattanooga to its first 20-win season since 2004-05. He finished his two seasons there at 40-25 and 27-7 in league play. In the two seasons prior to his arrival, Chattanooga was 24-40 overall and 13-23 in the SoCon. 

A four-year student manager (2002-05) at Clemson, Wade started his coaching career with the Tigers as a graduate assistant (2005-06) and director of basketball operations (2006-07).


He left Clemson in 2007 to become an assistant coach at Harvard and spent two years with the Crimson (2007-09) before heading to VCU as an assistant coach from 2009-13.


Wade is married to the former Lauren Deason of Charlotte, N.C., and the couple has one daughter, Caroline.


Wade’s College Coaching Timeline
2005-06 – Clemson, Graduate Assistant
2006-07 – Clemson, Director of Operations
2007-09 – Harvard, Assistant Coach
2009-13 – VCU, Assistant Coach
2013-15 – UT-Chattanooga, Head Coach
2015-17 – VCU, Head Coach
2017-22 – LSU, Head Coach
2023-25 – McNeese, Head Coach