Will Wade Signs Six-Year Deal to be North Carolina State Head Coach

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (KPLC) - Per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Will Wade has officially signed a six-year deal to become the next head coach at North Carolina State.

The news comes about an hour after McNeese’s 2024-25 season came to an end on Saturday with their 76-62 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers in the in the round of 32 after the Cowboys won their first NCAA Tournament game in program history on Thursday.

When asked postgame about his future, and the reports that had Wade going to NC State he said “We’ll handle that at another time, right now this is about these kids and this university... but I will say this, we have a plan to keep this program rolling no matter who’s at the helm.”

McNeese State University President Dr. Wade Rousse echoed that plan in an interview with KPLC 7 Sports Director Matthew Travis on Friday afternoon saying “We already have another guy that we kind of have our eyes on that, we think could keep this thing rolling.”

That plan, according to Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68, may revolve around former LSU assistant coach under Wade, and current Baylor assistant, Bill Armstrong.

In two seasons under Will Wade the McNeese Cowboys finish with an overall record of 57-11 with two Southland Conference regular season titles, two Southland Conference tournament titles, and countless firsts in program history including going to the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time, and the program’s first NCAA Tournament win, a 69-67 win over fifth-seeded Clemson on Thursday, which also happened to be McNeese’s first win over an AP Top 25 opponent.

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