Look at ESPN's butt hurt over our General Will Wade

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LSU's clumsy courtship to bring back coach Will Wade is in the final stages, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

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LSU's courtship of Wade, which has been reported widely in recent days, has all played out before the school has fired coach Matt McMahon. It'd also been widely speculated on for months, as Wade publicly pledged his loyalty to NC State as recently as the ACC tournament when asked about LSU.

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For months in the basketball landscape, rumblings of a reunion of Rousse, Schroyer and Wade loomed, as all three are closely aligned with Landry.

In one of the most awkward recent moments in college athletics, all of this has played out publicly while McMahon still has a job. It's not clear when LSU plans to fire him.

It also leaves NC State's administration vulnerable for criticism, as its hiring of Wade back to the big-time came with the obvious risk that he'd return to LSU. Athletic director Boo Corrigan's helped Wade clean up his reputation before he is set to skip town after a season of modest success that ended with a First Four loss.

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McMahon has gone 60-70 in four years, including a 17-55 record in SEC play. After being snakebit by injuries this year, a giant buyout hanged over any LSU decision on McMahon.

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They'll owe McMahon more than $8 million, in part because of the instability that Wade left the program in. McMahon agreed to a seven-year deal when hired back in 2022, an unusually long deal in part because of the scholarship and recruiting restrictions Wade left behind.

McMahon has three years remaining on that seven-year deal, which will put LSU in position of paying a second unusually large buyout this year. LSU owes Kelly $54 million after firing him this fall, one of the biggest buyouts in college football history.

LSU clumsily attempted to push back on the buyout in the wake of harsh public comments by Landry. After a month of legal back-and-forth, LSU sent Kelly a letter formally firing him without cause.

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The move by LSU, which is expected to start Wade's contract at a little less than $5 million a year, is part of one of the biggest spending binges recently by a university.

In the past four months, LSU has put more than $60 million in dead money on the books. (McMahon's staff is expected to be owed at least another $1 million, and LSU also paid $3 million to hire Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss.)

The hiring of football coach Lane Kiffin has led to a roster spending spree that's expected to have LSU paying more than $40 million. And the hiring of Wade is expected to put LSU in the higher echelon of SEC schools for basketball, as they lagged toward the bottom consistently during McMahon's tenure.

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