New (and old) SEC basketball coach Will Wade is an easy man to hate. At least that is my take on the former and new LSU basketball coach. Given that Nate Oats shouted Wade off the court after an SEC Tournament win a few years ago, I suspect Oats feels much the same.
Many years ago, when cheating was widespread in college basketball, there was an innovator in Sonny Vaccaro. Flush with Nike money, Vaccaro was believed to have thrown cash at top recruits to persuade them to sign with Nike-affiliated teams. The NCAA never proved a case against him. Vaccaro swears he never cheated. In that way, Vaccaro was nothing like Will Wade.
Will Wade proudly admitted violating NCAA rules with 'strong-ass' offers and payments to recruits and players. After a protracted delay by LSU, during which Wade wrapped himself in a cloak of Louisiana mendacity that would have made Huey Long proud, the NCAA punished him. LSU eventually fired him for illicit payments to recruits.
After his NCAA 'show-cause', Wade coached McNeese State, then North Carolina State. When the NIL world exploded, Wade boasted his player deals at LSU were 'ahead-of-the-curve' in player compensation.
Many decades ago, a U.S. Senator was asked if he had no shame. Asking the same question of Wade would be pointless. The answer is obvious.
LSU hiring Will Wade might make some other SEC basketball fans happy
Florida basketball fans might be happy that LSU has rehired Will Wade. Wade could quickly displace Todd Golden as the most insufferable coach in the SEC. There is another word that comes to mind to define Golden, but this platform discourages vulgarity. Instead, let's consider recent words by Golden, bragging on Florida's success: " When you have the opportunity to recruit bigger, stronger, faster athletes & play a style that allows you to raise your floor with high two-point FG% & get on the glass, that just gives you a better chance to be consistently successful."
The Gators won it all last season, producing deserved acclaim for Golden. This season, a less athletic Iowa team knocked the Gators out of the Big Dance. Golden statement before the Iowa game suggests he believed he had discovered college basketball's holy grail. Perhaps my opinion of Golden is unfair, but the fact is that a coach who crashes from winning a National Championship to getting bumped in a Round of 32 should be questioning himself. I suspect that Golden does not have such introspection in him.