“Will Wade is made for the new era of college basketball”

During the hiring process and shortly after, several pundits made the statement, “Will Wade is made for the new era of college basketball.” Most of us heard that and (possibly) chuckled thinking that it was because he started paying players before it became standard operating procedure. But maybe those guys weren’t the idiots most of us assume, and maybe they were onto something?

Throughout the season, and especially now that it is over, the Wolfpack fanbase has expressed a ton of dissatisfaction with our Coach’s comments. Without doing the research, I would guess that 2/3 of the recent comments (on multiple sites) made some statement about not liking the fact that he wasn’t nicer to the players at the end of the season (thanks for trying, fellas) , that he was overly confident early in the season (“we’re going to kick the ACC’s ass”), or that he was too negative about the team. (“they haven’t seen our defense yet”)

Let’s establish some baseline facts about Coach Wade, patterns that date back throughout his coaching career. This is who he is.

1. Coach Will Wade is intense! He is passionate and he is driven to success. He is young, smart, and always looking for ways to improve.
2. Coach Wade is honest and as transparent as he can be. Whether he is happy, angry, or disappointed, you know it. He does not embellish / sugarcoat his team’s performance or that of he and his staff. He will criticize the team when warranted, even when they win. He will also compliment excellence when deserved. There are no moral victories in ‘Wade World.’
3. He loves his players unconditionally and permanently. He’s said those exact words numerous times, his assistant coaches have said that about him, the players have said that about him, and his assistant coaches have also talked about how much they love the players. But he doesn’t always like what they do. And he tells them.
4. He knows the ultimate coaching truth. He will be popular if he wins, and unpopular if he loses. The support / resources will be there if he wins, they will fade away if he loses. So he really doesn’t tailor what he says or does for the fans. You are either going to like him or not – and that won’t change, but he is who he is and that will not change significantly either.

Player Relationships: Coaching college basketball is changing, and I think this is where the “…made for it…” comments are most applicable.

There will always be the need for close relationships with the players, especially for the younger players who are either new to college or still figuring out college ball.

• During the summer there were a lot of team building activities such as golf, bowling, and the much publicized Boot Camp. That developed close relationships within the team, and with the coaches. One on one workouts continued throughout the season, giving players personal attention as needed.
• Coach Wade had one-on-one meetings with players throughout the season.
• He regularly acknowledged how important Jordan Snell was to the team. It seems like a small thing, but Jordan was important to the players.

But at the same time, players are now professionals. And that is the new aspect of the player relationships. They have upperclassmen who have been at multiple schools and for whom, money was an important factor in their choice of schools. And in many cases, those upperclassmen make up much of the starting lineups and are the keys to the team’s success. That is a different player relationship and one Coach Wade and the staff also do well.

• Everyone (coaches, players, fans – and opposing teams) knows who the ‘pricey’ players are, everyone knows who is expected to deliver in crunch time.
• Everyone knows that winning is the priority and if you don’t contribute, you will not play, and you will not be retained an additional season. Players are less likely to get development time anymore.
• In a preseason interview, Coach Wade described Darrion Williams as “the part” and everyone else was “pieces”. That is as transparent as it gets.
• Half to two-thirds of most power conference teams are mercenaries, they will only be there for one season.

I thought a very telling statement about this new world was in a preseason workout video when Coach Wade told the players, “We are not paying you to shoot from behind the college 3PT line.” He was making the point that they should get as close to the line as possible for the best shot and not worry about shooting from NBA distance for NBA scouts. But he also reminded them that he was paying them.

Candor: Coach Wade does not hold back… well maybe a little

• During transfer season, Coach Wade acknowledged that he and his staff were 100% to blame for losing out on Paul Mbiya.
• He has admitted publicly and on multiple occasions that they missed on the roster, and need to do it much better next season
• He acknowledged after a few losses that he, and his staff, did not have the players ready to play. I don’t think that was ‘coach speak’, I think they were not well prepared for those games.
• Early in the season he told us that the team was made up of easy going, nice guys. He talked about needing them to play with an ‘edge’ that he wasn’t seeing. That turned out to be prophetic.
• Late in the season, after one of the bad losses (ND or GT I believe), he commented that he was concerned about making it to Dayton if we kept playing the way we were. Hello Dayton.
• Coach Wade says he does not follow social media. It is ironic that fans on social media complain that he is too transparent with how he feels and what he thinks. Under previous coaches, in post game press conferences when the coach said (paraphrased), “Our fine young lads gave it their best shot, but alas it was not to be”, fans complained that the coach was clueless and should acknowledge what went wrong.
• Well, maybe a little … Coach Wade told us mid-season that he and his staff were reining in the trash talk this season. “We haven’t won as much as we’re gonna win yet. I don’t think they’re ready for how rowdy we’re gonna be when we win.”

Lingering Question:

I haven’t seen anyone ask this question, but should he replace Coach Chambers? Absolutely everyone (opposing coaches as well) could see that the defense was inadequate to non-existent much of the time this season. I know he’s a long-term Wade guy, and that he is well thought of in the coaching world, but just slightly better defense would have made a difference.