By BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer
LSU has fired fourth-year coach Matt McMahon and has reached an agreement to rehire former Tigers coach Will Wade from N.C. State.
“This was not an easy decision,” Wade wrote in a social media post Thursday in which he thanked N.C. State for the opportunity to coach the Wolfpack. “But the opportunity to return to Louisiana State University is deeply personal. It’s a chance to go home — to a place that means a great deal to me and my family.”
While LSU had yet to formally announce the coaching change, a person with knowledge of the development confirmed it to The Associated Press on Thursday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement was still pending.
The topic of Wade’s potential return to LSU had been churning for weeks, enough so that Wade was ready with a response when asked about it after the Wolfpack’s loss to Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. That included noting that the job at the time wasn’t open, with McMahon — the permanent successor after Wade’s ouster — still in place.
“I was hired at NC State to do a job. This wasn’t going to take one year,” Wade said, then motioned toward Wolfpack athletic director Boo Corrigan at the back of the news-conference room. “I’ve already met with our administration about next year and some of the changes that we need to make and some of the things that we need to do to put this program where it deserves long-term.”
Exactly two weeks later, Wade was gone. The buyout in Wade’s six-year deal at N.C. State is for $5 million, but was scheduled to drop to $3 million after April 1 — barring a negotiated settlement in the interim.
Wade’s return to LSU comes four years after his firing there over allegations of money-fueled recruiting violations, which came amid a federal corruption investigation into the sport. Wade rebuilt his career with a two-year stint at McNeese that included 50 wins and two trips to March Madness.
Wade’s lone season in Raleigh started with the coach confidently predicting a “reckoning” for the ACC and college basketball at his introductory news conference, coming a year ago Wednesday. He promised the Wolfpack would be in the top part of the ACC standings and reach the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolfpack accomplished the latter in a season that started with promise but faded badly. Notably, N.C. State stood at 18-6 overall and 9-2 in the ACC as of Feb. 7 before losing six of seven to close the regular season, including a 41-point loss at Louisville, a 29-point loss at Virginia and another 29-point loss at home to Duke.
Along the way, Wade’s postgame comments could range from a defiant and expletive-dotted defense on top transfer addition Darrion Williams to frustrated analyses of the performances and shortcomings of the overhauled roster he put together.
N.C. State, which finished seventh in the 18-team league, ended up in the First Four and lost to Texas on a last-second shot for its eighth loss in 10 games.
McMahon was hired at LSU in 2022 by then-athletic director Scott Woodward, who resigned under pressure from Gov. Jeff Landry last October in the wake of the firing of former Tigers football coach Brian Kelly.
Soon after, the LSU Board of Supervisors hired former McNeese State President Wade Rousse as LSU system president. This week, LSU lured McNeese State athletic director Heath Schroyer to a senior role as deputy athletics director overseeing men’s basketball. Schroyer, a former college basketball coach himself, was the first to hire Wade as the coach’s one-year suspension by the NCAA ended.
The Louisiana governor appoints 15 of the 16 members of the LSU Board of Supervisors to staggered six-year terms. Landry has appointed seven so far and the terms of four other board members expire in June, giving the governor considerable influence over the leadership in LSU’s athletic department.
Wade was exceedingly popular with LSU’s fan base, which was raucous in its support of Wade during pre-game introductions at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center even after accusations of his NCAA violations became public.
Wade went 105-51 at LSU. He led LSU to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2019, 2021 and 2022. His 2020 team appeared to be a virtual lock for March Madness before the tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When LSU fired Wade, then-university President William F. Tate and Woodward said Wade’s tenure and the allegations that followed him placed the men’s basketball program “under an exhausting shroud of negativity.”
LSU received a formal notice of allegations from the NCAA’s Complex Case unit, including multiple charges alleging Wade’s personal involvement in — or awareness of — Level I misconduct.
Level I violations can include a head coach’s lack of oversight on compliance matters; failure to cooperate in an NCAA investigation; unethical or dishonest conduct; or prohibited cash or similar benefits provided to recruits.
However, virtually everything of which Wade was accused is now not only legal, but widely seen as critical to success during a new era of college sports in which player payments — both from endorsements and directly from university athletic departments — are permitted.
LSU has not been to March Madness since Wade left.
McMahon — saddled during his first two seasons by NCAA-approved, self-imposed scholarship reductions stemming from the Wade allegations, went 60-70 at LSU. This season, LSU went 15-17, posting a last-place 3-15 record in the SEC.
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AP Basketball Writer Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.