Will Wade is not new to Baton Rouge anymore. The introductory press conference is long over, the staff is in place, and LSU is now in the strange late-summer stage of trying to turn his usual blend of confidence, creativity and chaos into a finished basketball team.
That is precisely why the rest of the SEC is already annoyed.
Wade has never been especially interested in making the sport’s establishment comfortable, and LSU did not bring him back to be careful. The Tigers hired him to build quickly, recruit aggressively and make the PMAC matter again.
He has done nothing to suggest a softer version of himself is coming.
When Wade spoke publicly about LSU’s still-unsettled roster this spring, he did not sound like a coach sweating the optics. “Low volume in terms of what you guys know,” he said with a smirk, before adding, “By the end of August, we’ll have a great team.”
That is Wade in a nutshell: give everyone just enough to talk about, then dare them to keep up.
The current LSU roster still lists only four players, a remarkable August reality for an SEC program. Yet the roster uncertainty has not made anyone dismiss Wade; it has made everyone wait for the next shoe to drop.
And there is always another shoe.
The attempted pursuit of former St. John’s star RJ Luis, whose NCAA eligibility is contested after signing an NBA contract, lit a fresh fire under Wade’s critics. College basketball reporter Jeff Goodman did not mince words, saying, “Will Wade, I wish you didn’t come back to college basketball,” before calling the situation “a mockery.”
That is a dramatic reaction, but it also explains the current mood around Wade. His detractors see a coach constantly trying to locate the outer edge of the rules; his supporters see one of the few coaches honest enough to attack every available opening.
LSU sees the second version. Of course it does.
Wade himself made the relationship plain upon returning, saying, “I understand I’m not for everybody,” before delivering the line Tiger fans surely enjoyed most: “I’m for LSU and LSU is for me.”
The SEC should probably take him at his word.
Nobody outside Louisiana is obligated to enjoy Wade’s act, and plenty of people plainly do not. But the league is more entertaining when it has a coach willing to wear the black hat, build a contender in public and force everyone else to decide whether they are angry because he is wrong—or because he might be good.
LSU did not hire Will Wade to be liked. It hired him to win fast enough that the boos have to get louder.
– Vol Hoops Staff Writer