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It’s official!
Former LSU men’s basketball coach Will Wade is returning to Baton Rouge to coach the Tigers again next season. The 43-year old Wade coached the LSU basketball team from 2017-2022 until he was fired following an NCAA probe into improper payments being offered to certain LSU basketball recruits.
Back then, the NCAA did not allow schools to pay their players. Yet.
Ironically, Will Wade’s dismissal by LSU in 2022 happened right as the NCAA’s new rules (such as they are) were being implemented to allow college athletes to receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
Wade was simply ahead of his time. LSU was slapped with five NCAA sanctions and sent the basketball coach to the unemployment line.
Will Wade re-emerged at McNeese State University in Lake Charles a year later in 2023. He led the Cowboys into their first-ever NCAA March Madness tournament in 2024 and, again, in 2025.
Wade was then hired to become the head coach at North Carolina State this past season. His NC State Wolfpack team was selected to participate in the NCAA “First Four” round. They lost to Texas in that game to finish the year at 20-14.
While that was happening in the life of Will Wade, LSU’s then-Athletics Director Scott Woodward hired former Murray State basketball coach Matt McMahon to run the men’s program in the spring of 2022.
The Murray State Racers qualified for the NCAA March Madness tournament three times in five seasons under Coach McMahon before he left for LSU.
Four years later, coach Matt McMahon’s LSU teams had won only 17 SEC games against 55 conference losses (23.6%). This season’s Tigers finished dead last in the league with a woeful 3-15 record.
Matt McMahon was dismissed this week, but he won’t go away empty handed
The ex-LSU basketball coach will receive nearly $8 million as part of his contract buyout provisions. He joined a growing number of former LSU sports leaders who were fired in recent years but received lucrative going-away presents upon their exit.
Former LSU head football coaches Brian Kelly ($54 million – 2025) and Ed Orgeron ($17 million – 2021) along with former AD Scott Woodward ($6 million – 2025) have been paid handsomely to hit the road.
When added to Matt McMahon’s $8 million buyout, that is $85 million which LSU’s wealthiest athletics backers have been asked to cover.
In exchange, the school’s financial backers demand winners (sooner than later) in return for being asked to pay for so many expensive changes in Baton Rouge.
Speaking of money, basketball coach Will Wade’s former school at North Carolina State will receive $4 million as compensation after his abrupt exit following season #1 in Raleigh.
NC State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan was understandably miffed at coach Will Wade’s decision to leave his program after just one year.
“As far as the resignation letter, it was an email that we received from his agent,” said Corrigan. “I’m disappointed at how it went down.”
Is the LSU basketball job actually better than North Carolina State?
LSU has zero NCAA men’s basketball tournament titles.
Long-time coach and fan favorite Dale Brown’s Tigers played in two Final Four appearances (1981 and 1986), but his teams lost in the national semifinals both years.
Brown’s successor, John Brady, led LSU to another Final Four appearance in 2006. Same result.
Over the past twenty years, LSU was selected for the NCAA post-season tournament just five times. Three of those occurred during coach Will Wade’s five seasons with the Tigers (2019, 2021, and 2022).
After being fired by LSU, Will Wade rebuilt his credibility by turning the McNeese State Cowboys of the Southland Conference into a basketball powerhouse during his two years in Lake Charles.
The Pokes went 30-4 and 28-7, won the Southland Conference title both years, and made two consecutive March Madness post-season appearances.
Wade left after two seasons to take the job at North Carolina State of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Wolfpack already had two national championship trophies in Raleigh.
Coach Norm Sloan’s 1973-74 team featured dynamic high-flying forward David Thompson, 7’4” center Tom Burleson and diminutive 5’7” point guard Monty Towe.
NC State defeated legendary coach John Wooden’s mighty UCLA Bruins in overtime in the semifinals and then polished-off Marquette to win the school’s first basketball title.
Coach Jim Valvano’s 1983 North Carolina State team won the ACC Tournament and barely qualified for the NCAA March Madness field as a lowly #6 regional seed. His “Cardiac Pack” thrilled the nation by defeating a series of top teams on their way to the title game against heavily favored Houston.
Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma team lost to NC State on a stunning last second put-back for the Wolfpack’s second national championship.
Given North Carolina State’s national stature in basketball, the job in Raleigh seems to be slightly higher in prestige than the men’s head coaching job at LSU. Since the turn of the century, the ACC was won ten national titles versus four by the SEC.
Coach Will Wade’s first year at North Carolina State improved the Wolfpack from 12-19 last year to 20-14 in 2026. However…
North Carolina State recently announced that it is having athletic budget issues
A February report indicated that North Carolina State’s athletics department ran a $18.5 deficit over the past 12 months. The school’s athletic revenues of $126 million did not cover the expenses of $144 million.
The report cited increased costs due to revenue sharing with the athletes. In fact, $18 million was shared by NC State’s athletes over in the past year.
The school (like so many others) is now looking at raising ticket prices, holding large concerts on-campus, and other measures aimed to increase revenues without trimming athletic costs.
Perhaps Will Wade saw the handwriting on the wall at NC State. He has moved to a school which has been spending money on athletics like the proverbial drunken sailor.
Is LSU becoming McNeese State University – East campus?
In the past six months, LSU has looked 130 miles to the west to hire two of its key leaders from McNeese State University in Lake Charles.
McNeese President Wade Rousse accepted the vacant top position at LSU in November, 2025. The new LSU President was rumored to be the top choice of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry.
Yesterday (Thursday), McNeese State University Athletics Director Heath Schroyer announced his departure for LSU as well. He was named “Senior Deputy AD/Executive Director of External Relations” for the LSU system.
Translation – Heath Schroyer will be tasked with raising more money for sports (particularly men’s basketball) while hovering over the shoulders of current LSU Director of Athletics Verge Ausberry.
Schroyer had been a long-time college basketball coach. After becoming the McNeese State University Athletics Director, he brought Will Wade to coach the men’s basketball team in 2023. The program quickly blossomed into a Southland Conference dynamo.
As the week draws to a close, the 2023-2025 era McNeese State University posse of President Wade Rousse, AD Heath Schroyer, and men’s basketball coach Will Wade has been reunited again in Baton Rouge.
LSU’s athletics budget was already huge. What’s a few more million dollars to bring in a new men’s basketball coach and his good buddy, right?
Men’s basketball at LSU has been in significant decline in recent years. However, the men’s basketball team financial income statement is, somehow, still profitable.
LSU’s 2025 annual report to the NCAA showed that men’s basketball turned a profit of around $2.5 million despite declining home game attendance.
Meanwhile, Coach Kim Mulkey’s very popular women’s basketball team at LSU averaged 10,707 fans per game vs. 7,147 for the men.
The LSU women won the 2023 national championship and earned a #2 regional seed in the Women’s March Madness tournament this year. LSU fans are very proud of Kim Mulkey and the school’s women’s basketball program.
Would you believe that the LSU women’s program posted an $8 million loss in 2025?
How is that even possible?
The compensation (salary, bonus, and benefits) for the LSU men’s and women’s basketball coaches and staff are fairly equal.
In case you were wondering, Kim Mulkey earned $500,000 more than men’s coach Matt McMahon’s $3 million last year.
Total expenses for the men’s team last year were $11.1 million.
The LSU women’s basketball team spent $12.1 million in 2025.
However, the LSU women’s basketball program produced total revenues of just $4.137 million (tickets, program donations, and about $500,000 from NCAA post-season tournament revenues). The women’s team had zero media income from the SEC and other media sources, though.
The LSU’s men’s basketball team posted revenues of $13.625 million! The Tigers benefited from a $2 million check from the massive NCAA’s men’s March Madness TV contract plus another $7 million received from the SEC and others for media rights.
That incremental $9 million for LSU men’s basketball from SEC media sources and NCAA tournament revenues makes a world of difference!
From LSU’s perspective, there is still upside potential to increase men’s basketball ticket sales, merchandising, and, of course, NIL fundraising as coach Will Wade returns to the school next year.
Ride ’em, ex-Cowboys!
Expect the former McNeese State Cowboys’ dynamic duo of Will Wade and cohort Heath Schroyer to join forces to shake every possible money tree in Louisiana on behalf of the LSU men’s basketball program. Will Wade wants more money to buy better basketball players.
LSU’s athletics budget of more than $200 million annually dwarfs the $146 million (and its $18 million annual loss) at North Carolina State. Coach Wade envisions LSU’s bigger pie and more to share with his players.
The increased interest in men’s basketball around Baton Rouge resulting from Will Wade’s return should provide a reasonable boost to season ticket sales revenue. If Coach Wade is able to transform LSU’s men’s basketball team into an March Madness contender soon, the funding from basketball donors will grow as well.
Time to giddy-up and Geaux Tigers!