The 2021–22 LSU men’s basketball team was built on sacrifice. These players gave everything:

Tari Eason
Darius Days
Brandon Murray
Eric Gaines
Xavier Pinson
Efton Reid
Mwani Wilkinson
Alex Fudge
Shareef O’Neal
Justice Williams
Parker Edwards
Bradley Ezewiro
Jerrell Colbert
Adam Benhayoune
Brandon Egemo
Spencer Mays

They grinded through offseason workouts, battled through a tough season, and fought until the final loss on the road to #4 Arkansas. Then, on March 12, 2022—just days before the NCAA Tournament—Athletic Director Scott Woodward fired head coach Will Wade.

Woodward stripped a tournament-bound team of its leader. He left them rudderless, and he knew it.

Here’s my take—and I believe it’s reasonable: Woodward wanted LSU to lose early in the tournament. Why? Because if Wade had won one, two, or even three games (and that team was absolutely capable), it would’ve made firing him politically impossible. So Woodward pulled the trigger before the Iowa State game, hoping for a first-round exit.

It worked. LSU lost in the first round.

But that decision left a scar.

It sent a clear message to the LSU family: when the pressure’s on, don’t count on Scott Woodward to have your back. He won’t fight for you. Worse—he’ll sacrifice you for what he sees as “the greater good.”

Everyone knows why Wade was fired: the NCAA demanded a pound of flesh. If Woodward didn’t deliver Wade, they’d come after football.

So let’s look at the cost:

Men’s Basketball:

Decimated.
Attendance plummeted.
Finished dead last in the SEC in 2022, 8th in 2023, 15th in 2024.
Still struggling in 2025—with little hope of a quick recovery.

Football:

Hired Brian Kelly.
2022: 10–4, SEC West champs, Citrus Bowl win.
2023: 10–3, Jayden Daniels wins Heisman, ReliaQuest Bowl win.
2024: 9–4, Texas Bowl win over Baylor.
2025: Kelly fired. Program now faces its biggest reset in history.

Hindsight is easy, but was sacrificing basketball worth saving football from sanctions?

If Jayden Daniels hadn’t won the Heisman, the answer would be a resounding no. With the Heisman, it’s a tough call.

But the real damage wasn’t the football or basketball records—it was the precedent. Throwing the 2021–22 team under the bus planted a cancerous seed: loyalty doesn’t go both ways at LSU.

Most fans never saw it. Many still deny it. But it was real—and it eroded trust.

Woodward chose the NCAA’s approval over the basketball team in the LSU family.

Meanwhile, Will Wade “paid his dues” at McNeese State—leading them to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments—before landing the head job at NC State.

Before NC State hired him, one major LSU donor—Southwest Louisiana businessman Lee Mallett, a close friend of Governor Jeff Landry and a LSU board member—pushed hard for Wade’s return. Mallett gives at high figure level. This wasn’t a $100/month TAF donor. This was a big-time donor that loves LSU.

Mallett and the Landry camp wanted Wade back. Woodward said no.
That denial didn’t just close a door—it fueled resentment. Apparently even among big donors, loyalty matters. Betrayal festers.

And now? Here we are.

All of this could’ve been avoided.

If Woodward had fought for the 2021–22 team—if he’d stood by Wade through the storm—none of this happens.

Woodward would still have his job.

Wade would still be coaching LSU to the top of the SEC.
Football might’ve taken a two-year sanction hit—but the program would likely be in playoff contention right now.

Instead, we’re left with men's basketball program still in disrepair and a total reset in football.

Lessoned learned: fight for the LSU family.