re: This is late to the party, but could someone give me the rundown of what Will Wade did?

He took money out of his own bank account to pay for a recruit’s silence. He did it while employed at LSU and under an active NCAA investigation. If had not done this he is likely still coaching LSU.

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The moron was paying recruits out of his joint checking account he had with his wife

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No, he wasn't.

He paid blackmail money to the ex-girlfriend of a player.

The payments were not to convince someone to attend LSU, or as a benefit to someone playing at LSU.

The ex-girlfriend threatened to reveal that LSU was paying players, and it seems pretty obvious that he wouldn't pay blackmail payments based on nothing, but the blackmail payments themselves are the only exchanges currently of record.

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A total fricking moron

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This is true.

But the fact that he was so bad at distributing ones of thousands of dollars to a random person makes me think that he probably was not personally managing some large, elaborate pay-for-play operation.

He got caught

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Cheated, lied,fraud and all around POS

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Dale Brown?

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Wade clumsily handled things many other college teams do in secret. The result was he was on tape discussing an offer and used his personal account to play a player's ex-girlfriend. He tried to play it off as did this board that the offer was not money but we all know it was.

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When, prior to this episode, in the history of college basketball had the US Department of Justice or the FBI ever investigate college basketball recruiting? The answer is never. So for many to suggest Wade was "dumb" for having a phone conversation with a "runner" about trying to sign a player and should have anticipated the federal government would be listing on the call is absurd. Before, then, and now, college basketball coaches have such conversations with dozens of "runners" a year, all the time. That is why AAU basketball exists. It is basically a marketplace to sell HS talent.

Unfortunately for Wade he was caught talking to the exact wrong runner at the exact wrong time in history. No coach could have ever anticipated one of the numerous runners they talk to would be cooperating in a Federal investigation. A federal investigation that at the beginning had absolutely nothing to do with college basketball recruiting.

The NCAA is not naive. They knew/know how the sausage is made. They know the reason AAU basketball exists. Yet, they didn't have the resources or desire (probably both) to fully investigate everything. So they generally just turned a blind eye or did nothing until a case fell into their lap. This one did. And Wade's wiretapped statements were some of the most direct and egregious evidence of the shady underbelly of high level recruiting.

With such a highly publicized event, the NCAA could not do nothing. They had to save face and try to preserve the facade that college sports is still an "amatuer" endeavor and that this behavior was the exception, not the rule. Even though the opposite has long been true.

For his part, Wade isn't dumb either. He knew what the "strong arse offer" was. He knew what was discussed in the recorded conversation. So his response was essentially the equivalent of "taking the 5th". It was the NCAA's burden to prove wrongdoing, not his burden to exonerate himself.

In the 3 years that passed since the initial release of the wiretap recording in March of 2019 LSU got a new AD (ironically largely due to the fervent fan/booster support of Wade) and overturned many aspects of the athletic department. Woodward didn't hire Wade. He inherited the situation. And with football being the target of an NCAA investigation, along with Woodward's propensity to want to bring in his own hires at HC, he decided to move on from Wade at the end of last season. LSU was spending a ton of money replacing the football, women's basketball, and baseball staffs. So when the NOA presented an opportunity to replace the MBB staff without having to pay a buyout (or at least a full buyout) he took it. Though I will go to my grave saying the timing of the firing was purely and solely vindictive without any regard for the players about to participate in the NCAAT.

It's disappointing because I think Wade was the closest thing to Dale Brown at LSU since brown. He was brash. He brought energy and excitement to an otherwise lifeless program. He was the first coach since Brown to win consistently. He was bringing in great talent. Say what you want about Brown and his coaching ability, but the PMAC was never more alive than at the height of the Brown era, and it hasn't consistently reached that level since.

Alas, it is time to move on and support the new staff. My hope is that McMahon can bring LSU basketball to such heights where we eventually start to forget about the Wade era. Not because I don't like Wade. But because that will mean LSU basketball is a national championship contender.

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Alt26

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Wasn’t that the girlfriend of a VCU player, not even a LSU player?

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No. It was Naz Reid. Amazing how long a lie that fits peoples' narratives will last.

isn't that something the boosters or other organizations that represent the university deal with?

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The NCAA and every media source was on a mission to make Will Wade and LSU pay. They won. We lost.

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Well. He kinda told them to frick off in his own Will Wade way.
So, that probably had a little to do with them not letting it go.