LSU fires Will Wade prior to NCAA Tournament, following NCAA allegations
The other shoe finally dropped Saturday for Will Wade, the day before LSU will learn its postseason dancing card.
The university has parted ways with its fifth-year basketball coach, as well as associate head coach Bill Armstrong, after receiving an official notice of allegations from the NCAA earlier this week.
Assistant Kevin Nickelberry is expected to serve as interim coach as the Tigers prepare for the NCAA Tournament, the bracket for which will be released Sunday evening.
CBS Sports and Stadium were the first of numerous outlets to report the news Saturday afternoon.
Athletic director Scott Woodward and president William F. Tate IV confirmed the decision shortly thereafter with a letter addressed to the LSU community.
"The notice contains serious allegations, including multiple charges alleging coach Wade’s personal involvement in — or awareness of — Level I misconduct," the letter said. After receiving the notice earlier this week, we took several days to fully evaluate it and engage in deliberate and thoughtful discussions about our next steps. We can no longer subject our university, Department of Athletics, and — most importantly — our student-athletes, to this taxing and already-lengthy process without taking action. Our responsibility to protect and promote the integrity and well-being of our entire institution and our student-athletes will always be paramount.
"Notably, our decision to terminate coach Wade and coach Armstrong is not an acknowledgement of agreement with any of the allegations. The university will determine its positions on the allegations after an exhaustive and objective examination of the relevant facts and applicable NCAA regulations."
Wade — and, subsequently, the program as a whole — has been under recurring scrutiny and investigation for more than three years since the leaking of an FBI wiretap that included the coach discussing a now-infamous "strong-ass offer" for a recruit.
He was suspended indefinitely March 7, 2019, following the release of the transcript of that 2017 phone call, and missed the team's SEC and NCAA tournament appearances that month.
Wade was reinstated on April 14, 2019, with an amended contract that would allow LSU to fire him with cause should he be investigated for Level I or II NCAA violations.
The NCAA assigned LSU's case — including both basketball and football allegations — to its Independent Accountability Review Process and, in particular, the Complex Case Units on Sept. 23, 2020.
And this week's NOA included eight total Level I allegations — seven tied to basketball and another to football — as well as additional Level II and Level III allegations.
The document alleges Wade "offered inducements to secure" prospective student-athletes in violations that were "deliberate and committed after substantial planning" and that the coach "failed to cooperate in the investigation, attempted to conceal violations and obstructed the investigations."
An additional Level I allegation against the football program centers on 2019 investigation of former booster John Paul Funes, who pled guilty to stealing $550,000 from the Our Lady of the Lake Foundation, including a $180,000 payment to the family of a now-former student-athlete.
Former player Odell Beckham Jr. handing cash to student-athletes after the Tigers' national championship Jan. 13, 2020, was referenced as a Level II allegation.
And a Level III allegation detailed the then-head football coach, Ed Orgeron, having impressible contact with a prospect during an evaluation period.
"It is alleged that, from February 2012 to June 2020, the scope and nature of the violations set forth in Allegation Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 demonstrate that the institutions failed to exercise institutional control and monitor the conduct and administration of its football and men's basketball programs," the document read.
LSU has now made changes atop both programs in the past four months, in addition to new hires in women's basketball and baseball following the departure of Nikki Caldwell Fargas and retirement of Paul Mainieri, respectively.
Wade compiled a 105-51 record during his tenure in Baton Rouge, including 22-11 this season, and was preparing the Tigers for their third NCAA Tournament in that span.
LSU missed the 2018 bracket, but would have received a 2020 berth had the postseason not been cancelled amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wade currently ranks No. 4 all-time in program history in career wins behind Dale Brown, Harry Rabenhorst and John Brady.
His 67.3 percent winning percentage marks the program's highest since Frank "Tad" Gormley's 25-11 record during a two-season tenure from 1921 to 1923.