Will Wade might have one foot out the door, but after Thursday’s upset of fifth-seeded Clemson gave McNeese State its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, he had both feet in the stands, celebrating with the jubilant Cowboys’ fans and members of the administration.
“Our biggest supporters, right there on the front row, so why not?” Wade said after McNeese toppled Clemson 69-67.
Wade, who reportedly already has accepted the North Carolina State job, exuberantly pumped his fists and hugged players and coaches before making his way into the stands, seeking out school president Wade Rousse and athletic director Heath Schroyer along his frenetic path.
“I’m the head coach, but there’s a lot of people that make this thing happen,” Wade said. “I’m low on the totem pole of what actually makes all this work. First and foremost is the players, and then you got the donors that allow us to get the players. All that stuff works together. Our entire administration, everybody deserved this. They have gone all in on our program since the day we got there and everyone deserves it. They thought we were a little wacky when we did it but, hey, who’s laughing now?”
Unlike the usual insane level of cloak-and-dagger that accompanies most March coaching changes, Wade has been completely upfront and honest with his team, school and the media. Wednesday, he bluntly confirmed that he – or his agent – had been in contact with NC State, which is looking for a replacement for the fired Kevin Keatts.
“I think when you’re in a loop and both ends are transparent about things, there’s not too much room for conflict,” 6-foot-6 senior forward Christian Shumate said. “Everybody is aware of everything that’s going on, and when there’s a clear understanding, everybody keeps the same angle in the front of mind. We’ll worry about all of that stuff later. Everybody is transparent on both ends and that’s something we worry about later. We’re just focused on winning these games.”
Once a Fallen Pariah, Will Wade Is Back on His Feet at McNeese
Now at his fourth coaching gig, Wade has led the Cowboys to their second straight Southland Conference regular season championship
It’s undeniably a rare situation. When Bill Frieder accepted the Arizona State job just days before the 1989 NCAA Tournament, Michigan did not let him coach those games. He watched from afar as the team he assembled won the national championship.
Last season, Long Beach State fired coach Don Monson but let him coach the conference tournament. His team responded by winning the Big West title and going to the NCAAs, where Monson coached them during a first-round loss to Arizona.
Wade’s status has been a topic looming over the program for outsiders. But he and his players insist it hasn’t been a distraction. In fact, Wade – who previously coached VCU and LSU – has said he talked to his players in the preseason about this season being a springboard for all of them to move on to bigger programs.
“I have been focused on the game,” Wade said after Thursday’s win. “… Whatever else is happening, that’s of no distraction to us. I know everybody else, you know, thinks there’s distractions and stuff. We operate the same way all the time. We haven’t operated any differently. The walkthrough, nothing has been different. There hasn’t been a lot of emotion. Narrow focus. The bigger the game, the narrower your focus, and it’s been absolute narrow focus on winning our first NCAA Tournament game at McNeese State. … This is huge for our school.”
When it comes time to work, the Cowboys say, they’re all business. They certainly went to work on the Tigers.
McNeese led for the final 35:59 of the contest, by a comfortable margin – its largest lead was 40-16 with 15:34 left – until the final two minutes when Clemson mounted a furious rally. The Tigers outscored McNeese 14-4 in the final 45 seconds.
That flourish made the final score far tighter than things were for most of the contest. McNeese baffled Clemson by using a 2-3 zone it hadn’t showed this season. The Cowboys held the Tigers to a 5-of-24 shooting performance in the first half. Clemson was 1-of-15 from three-point range and committed 10 turnovers before the break (it had three in the second half).
“We picked a tough day to not play our best,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “Certainly they had a lot to do with that. I didn’t do a very good job with my guys, and we weren’t really prepared for the zone to man.”
That was the idea, Wade said.
“We’ve been saving that zone all year,” he said. “We haven’t played the 2-3 zone all year. We put it in for some stuff in the conference tournament and never used it. We thought this would be a good time to pull it out, so our guys did a great job.”
It means at least one more game together. McNeese will play fourth-seeded Purdue on Saturday. The Boilermakers struggled past High Point 75-63.
Wade may have one foot out the door, but for now, the coach and his players are right where their feet are – living in the biggest moment in school history.
“It still feels like a dream,” Shumate said. “I’m sure in a couple of days or when this all is over, I’ll wake up and look back at it like, ‘OK, that really did happen.’ But right now we stay focused, we’re trying to keep on winning games. We got to this point and we’re looking forward and trying to get on to the next one and keep on moving forward.”
