Will Wade fired as LSU men’s basketball coach after accusations of five NCAA Level I violations

LSU fired embattled men’s basketball coach Will Wade after receive a notice of allegations which details serious misconduct, the school announced Saturday.

The firing means Wade, who was in his fifth season at LSU, will not coach in the upcoming NCAA tournament. The Tigers are projected as the No. 6 seed in the tournament, and assistant Kevin Nickelberry will serve as interim coach.

This will be the second time Wade won’t be able to coach a Tigers team he led to the NCAA tournament. In 2019, LSU won the SEC regular-season championship, but Wade was suspended for the conference and NCAA tournaments after reports emerged that a federal wiretap captured him discussing a “strong offer” for a recruit.

Wade was 108-54 at LSU. He previously coached VCU to two NCAA tournament appearances and had a solid two-year stint at Chattanooga before that.

Nearly all of Wade’s tenure at LSU took place under cover of the federal basketball investigation, which was made public in September 2017.

According to an NCAA notice of allegations obtained by ESPN on Saturday via an open records request, there are eight allegations of Level I violations in LSU’s notice. Seven are believed to be tied to the men’s basketball program. One of them specifically concerns football, and both sports share an allegation that “the institution failed to exercise institutional control and oversight over the conduct and administration of its football and men’s basketball programs.”

There are two Level II allegations – one relating to football and one for basketball – and one Level III for football.

Wade is charged with five Level I violations and one Level II violation. Men’s basketball associate head coach Bill Armstrong is charged with one Level I violation and one Level II violation. In a statement, LSU said it also terminated Armstrong’s contract.

“We can no longer subject our university, our athletic department, and, most importantly, our student-athletes to this grueling and already lengthy process without taking action,” university President William F. Tate and athletic director Scott Woodward wrote in an open letter. “Our responsibility to protect and promote the integrity and well-being of our entire institution and our student-athletes will always be paramount.”

According to documents obtained by ESPN in August 2020, NCAA enforcement staff received information that Wade “arranged, offered and/or provided unauthorized payments, including cash payments, to at least 11 prospective men’s basketball student-athletes, their family members, persons associated with the prospects and/or non-school coaches in exchange for the prospects’ enrollment at LSU.” »

The allegations were included in the NCAA enforcement staff’s request that its infraction case involving the LSU men’s basketball program be adjudicated through the Independent Accountability Resolution process, which was created to handle complex cases.

As part of Wade’s reinstatement in 2019, he agreed to an amended contract that included a stipulation allowing the university to terminate him with cause if he was found to have committed Level I or II violations. Under the terms of the amended contract, Wade agreed to forgo a $250,000 performance bonus for the 2018-19 season. He also agreed not to sue the university if he was fired for cause.

LSU is not expected to pay Wade the remaining money on his contract due to these changes. The scope of what is alleged in the notice of allegations should meet these thresholds.

Tate and Woodward noted that Wade’s dismissal was “not an acknowledgment of agreement with any of the allegations” and that the school would submit to “a comprehensive and objective review of the relevant facts and applicable NCAA regulations.”

Among the five Level I allegations, the NCAA accused Wade of providing “unauthorized cash payments to the former fiancée of a student-athlete in order to buy her silence regarding prior and current illegal inducements to student-athletes or prospective student-athletes.” The allegation had not been previously reported.

NCAA investigators found text messages between Wade and the woman in July and August 2017, in which the woman told Wade that people had offered her money to talk about LSU’s payments to players.

“(Please) contact me by the end of the day or I will have to accept their offer,” the woman wrote.

“Call me,” Wade replied.

On July 27, 2017, the woman sent another text message to Wade, which said, “I need $5 more for a down payment on a car.” Put it on the same account. »

On August 1, 2017, after the woman texted Wade and asked if he had received her message about the extra payment, he responded, “I’m sorry you’re having money problems. You said we were done after the last transfer I sent, so in my mind we’re done.

The NCAA also accused Wade of making payments in April 2018 to a person who had influence over a prospect’s decision about where he would play in college. In exchange for the individual’s influence, “Wade directed that payments be made to (the individual) from a bank account in Wade’s wife’s name that Wade and his wife considered a joint account.”

Wade is also accused of violating the NCAA’s Principles of Ethical Conduct and failing to cooperate with the investigation, “as well as a number of other allegations that (the Complex Cases Unit) ultimately was unable to fully substantiate, when he refused to produce all of the records requested of him by CCU.”

The NCAA alleges that Armstrong, with Wade’s knowledge, provided illegal recruiting inducements between February 2020 and June 2020 “in the form of cash payments, a job offer, housing, unauthorized academic assistance, scholarship and visa assistance” to a then-candidate and/or his family members to secure his commitment to LSU.

“Specifically, Armstrong offered to provide (the recruit) and/or his family members or associates with $300,000 in cash (paid in installments of $50,000),” the notice of allegations states. “Armstrong also offered to do various favors for (the prospect’s) friends and relatives as an added incentive to secure (the prospect’s) commitment to LSU, including: a job with the institution’s men’s basketball program, an apartment and a car for (the prospect’s) cousin; a promise of a scholarship for a friend of the (prospect’s); and help obtaining visas for other basketball players in the United States.”

Wade is accused of telling future business manager Christian Dawkins during a wiretapped conversation in 2017 that he was frustrated with the recruitment of future LSU player Javonte Smart because he “went to (Smart’s manager) with a fucking strong offer about a month ago. Fucking strong.” Smart eventually signed with LSU and played three seasons before turning professional in 2021.

Dawkins was the subject of an FBI investigation into bribery and other corruption in college basketball. He was convicted in two federal criminal cases and is currently serving time in a federal prison in Alabama.

The LSU football program is also accused of three violations, including a Level I charge involving a Tigers booster embezzling more than $500,000 from a hospital foundation and giving some of the stolen money to the parents of two former LSU football players.

The Tigers are charged with a Level II violation involving Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.a former LSU star, who gave $2,000 in cash to four Tigers football players on the field after the team’s 42-25 win over Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2020.

There is also a Level III charge involving football; Former Tigers coach Ed Orgeron is accused of having inappropriate contact with a rookie in January 2019.

In October 2020, LSU self-imposed the loss of eight scholarships over two years, reduced recruiting visits, evaluations and communications and banned Beckham from its football facilities for two years. LSU then self-imposed a bowl ban in December 2020 when the Tigers were 3-5 with two games left in the season.

Wade’s last game at LSU ended in a loss to Arkansas in the SEC tournament in which he received a technical foul for arguing with officials in the first half.