PALMER: Wade, LSU getting a rare second chance

By Hunt Palmer

Sometimes no answer is worse than a bad one.

Wondering “what if” is one of the most helpless feelings of them all. Will Wade’s 2022 termination and the empty four seasons that followed begged the question, what if the FBI never tapped that wire? Wade had produced the most consistent five-year run in three decades.

The program had not gone to four straight NCAA Tournaments since going to 10 straight between 1984 and 1993. Wade technically didn’t due to the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, but he would have at 21-10 with 12 SEC wins before the world shut down. LSU had its coach to make sure basketball wasn’t just the bridge between the football season and first pitch at The Box.

Wade was still a few months shy of his 40th birthday when he was fired. His career was in front of him. But it wouldn’t be at LSU, a place he loved and a fan base that loved him back. The what if would always linger.

Now it doesn’t.

Wade gets a fresh start without the NCAA lurking around every corner. The rules have changed.

“We were running the program the last three years, and like I said, (the NCAA was) right, we were running the program at like 60 percent, and we were still going to the tournament and winning games in a tough league without operating at our full capacity,” Wade said. “There’s definitely a break off point. Now this gives us a new launching pad and a starting point. I think the runway is certainly more clear this time.”

Wade doesn’t have to learn the lay of the land this time, his sixth “new job.” He knows the entire administration. He’s aware of the hands he needs to shake for support. He’s got relationships with high school coaches. His wife knows where to look for houses. He won’t have any problem finding Phil’s Oyster Bar for lunch.

So, without the significant issues, self-inflicted as he admits, that clouded his final days at LSU and the usual steps in taking a new job, it’s time to get to work.

He’ll do that with a renewed sense of purpose.

“I’ve never connected with a fanbase and with people like I have with LSU and Louisiana,” Wade said. “I feel like we left the book open a little bit. We left some chapters out there, and we left some chapters unfinished. To have the opportunity to finish that off and to bring pride and joy to the people that I care about and people that mean a lot to me, yeah, I feel a heavy burden toward that, and that’s a big reason that I came back.”

Wade won’t have many supporters nationally. He’s a black sheep in the media. His NCAA infractions skew his perception far more so than legendary coaches like Bill Self, John Calipari, Roy Williams or Bruce Pearl who had run-ins with the rules.

He’s also not won at the level those coaches have or did.

His departure from NC State was viewed negatively by those on Tobacco Road. He said Monday that he’s long stopped caring about perception. He may have when it comes to that crowd, but his perception in Louisiana is another thing entirely.

Wade may prove to be an elite coach who racks up NCAA Tournament wins and brings a title to LSU. He may prove to have a ceiling in the second round. He may, as he quipped Monday, “be the first coach to get fired from the same school twice.”

Either way, we won’t have to wonder what could have been.