Louisiana State abruptly fired men’s basketball coach Will Wade on Saturday, less than a week after the school received a notice of allegations from the NCAA accusing Wade of five major rules violations, including of making cash payments and job offers to help attract a recruit to the school. school.
Wade and his associate head coach, Bill Armstrong, were fired a day after the Tigers lost to Arkansas in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament. Assistant coach Kevin Nickelberry will coach the team, which is 22-11 overall, into the NCAA tournament, whose pairings will be announced Sunday.
Wade had been under surveillance for approximately three years, since Yahoo reported in 2019 that federal agents had recorded Wade on a wiretapped call discussing a “strong offer” to Javonte Smart, a decorated high school player from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Wade was suspended for the Tigers’ 2019 playoff games due to his refusal to cooperate with LSU officials, but was reinstated a month later after meeting with administrators and agreeing to an amendment to his contract that would allow him to school to dismiss him for cause if he has been convicted of level I or II offenses, the most serious offenses.
The notice of allegations also states that Wade obstructed the investigation by refusing to turn over thousands of records and that during three interviews with investigators, he knowingly provided false or misleading information.
The NCAA report said Wade denied providing recruiting inducements or acting unethically.
Wade said during the SEC Tournament that he could not comment on the NCAA’s allegations. “I certainly look forward to commenting when this is all over, but until then they won’t allow us to comment,” he said.
The recorded call was part of a federal investigation that prosecutors said when they announced the indictments in 2017 would expose the dark world of college basketball recruiting.
Ultimately, it was mostly assistant coaches and low-level associates who paid the price in the criminal justice system. Assistant coaches at Southern California, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Arizona were convicted of bribery, as were two shoe company associates and an aspiring agent. Other schools that have been investigated include Kansas, Louisville and North Carolina State.
Wade is the first head coach to be fired following a direct accusation by the NCAA in this scheme. Rick Pitino was ousted almost immediately in Louisville, where accusations that he approved paying a recruit — which Pitino denied — were the latest in a series of embarrassing indiscretions. And Sean Miller was fired at Arizona last year with one year remaining on his contract due to his team’s declining performance and an NCAA investigation.
In announcing Wade’s dismissal, university President William F. Tate IV and athletic director Scott Woodward noted that the university and the men’s basketball program “have operated under a grueling veil of negativity.”
Their statement also said the decision to fire Wade and Armstrong was not an admission of agreement with any of the allegations, which the school is now responding to.
However, this is just the latest scandal at the school.
An investigation, motivated by report from USA Todaydiscovered last year that LSU athletic department administrators covered up sexual assault complaints against a former running back and fought to silence sexual harassment allegations against a former coach, Les Miles. Two administrators who failed to act on assault complaints were disciplined, but not fired.
Recent NCAA men’s basketball charges also include allegations that a booster paid a former football player’s father $180,000 for a fake job, and that former LSU star Odell Beckham Jr. ., allegedly provided approximately $2,000 in cash to the players after they won the national championship game in 2020.
The allegations against Wade and Armstrong are broader and more systematic. They understand:
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Wade pays hush money to keep a player’s ex-fiancée from talking about illegal payments.
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Armstrong offers to provide a recruit’s family or associates with $300,000 in cash (in $50,000 installments) as well as a job, apartment and car for the player’s cousin.
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Wade directed payments from a bank account in his wife’s name to a recruiter who, in exchange, would direct a prospect to LSU
Smart played three seasons for LSU, leaving a year ago to enter the NBA draft. He was undrafted but signed a two-way contract with the Miami Heat last month.
Wade, 39, coached at LSU for five seasons after previous stints at Chattanooga and Virginia Commonwealth. His best team was in 2019, when LSU finished 28-7 and won the SEC regular-season championship with four players who went on to play in the NBA.
But these Tigers finished their season in the NCAA Tournament without their head coach — just like this year’s team will have to do.
