Come to find out, those strong offers he was talking about were more than smoke.
They were apparent wildfires, and the only way they weren’t going to consume the LSU athletic program was to put them out at the origin spot.
That origin spot was LSU men’s basketball coach Will Wade, fired on Saturday after LSU was eliminated from the SEC men’s basketball tournament.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected, considering this entire fiasco was three years in the making.
In case you’ve been under a rock for the past three years, Wade found himself in hot water a few years back in the recruitment of former LSU guard Javonte Smart.
Smart, at the time, was the most sought after recruit in the state. He’d been a starter at Scotlandville since his freshman season and had many big-time Division I programs looking to sign him.
Eventually, it would be Wade who had Smart stay home and sign with LSU. But, it was with a little assistance.
Wade arranged for Smart to be paid illegally in order for him to go to LSU. This was before NIL, so it was admittedly a much bigger deal then than it is now.
But nonetheless, that’s where this began. Wade was caught on the phone talking about the payment through a wire tap and that immediately made him an NCAA target.
It’s come up every year, roughly around tournament time. National pundits Dick Vitale and Pat Forde have become the mainstream whistleblowers, and Tiger fans have been none too happy about it.
When the NCAA gave LSU its Notice of Allegations earlier this month, the writing was pretty much on the wall in the athletic department that Wade wouldn’t be back.
In all, LSU was given five Level 1 accusations for violations committed by Wade as its head basketball coach.
In addition, the LSU football program was given three Level 1 accusations.
Overall, LSU was given the dreaded “lack of institutional control” judgment by the NCAA in the Notice of Allegations for its seven- or eight-year run of violations.
Obviously, that wasn’t what LSU was hoping to hear.
So when it was said and done, there was one obvious choice to make.
In Baton Rouge, football is king. Ed Orgeron has already been fired, so there was one man left who could fall on the sword so football could potentially go on business as usual under new head coach Brian Kelly.
The General became The Martyr. The sacrifice offered to atone for the sins of the athletic program overall.
Will LSU football get off lighter because athletic director Scott Woodward fired Wade? There’s no way to tell.
Was Wade wildly successful by LSU standards during his time as head coach? Absolutely.
Was he worth risking the future of the athletic program after having made a $100 million investment? Absolutely not.
So it stands to reason that LSU will be picking up the scraps and attempting to resurrect the graveyard of LSU basketball under a new, much less high-profile coach.
In the long run, Wade will be fine. Good basketball coaches who do shady things always land on their feet. Ask Rick Pitino. John Calapari. Bill Self. Sean Miller.
He’ll be okay.
It’ll be on Woodward to try to find the right guy. Like I said, he’ll probably have to aim lower this time around.
However, given Woodward’s track record of coaching hires, he may still swing for the fence and try to attract a big name.
If he does, one this is for certain …
It’ll take a Wade-level strong offer to make it happen.
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