Former LSU basketball coach Will Wade receives 10-game suspension, doubling on McNeese State's clever move
Will Wade was the coach of the LSU Tigers men's basketball program until he was fired in March 2022 due to five Level I violation allegations from 2017. He now has a two-year show-cause order for recruiting as well as a 10-game suspension.
Wade is currently the coach at McNeese State, which suspended him for the first five games in a proactive move when the school hired him in March. However, the Independent Resolution Panel doubled the number, and its decision cannot be appealed.
Will Wade has been given a two-year show-cause order until 2025 and a 10-game suspension, per the IARP. LSU football and men's basketball have also been placed on probation for three years. Both the football and men's basketball program previously self-imposed penalties.
The IRP's release stated that it came to this decision for a lot of reasons:
"(Wade) committed multiple violations, including failing to report potential NCAA violations, providing impermissible cash payments to impeded disclosure of information of potential NCAA violations in contradiction to NCAA unethical conduct legislation, and failing to cooperate with the infractions investigation." h/t CBS Sports
The IRP is holding a conference call on Thursday to clear up the remainder of the case on Will Wade, but it seems like the punishment is set for the former LSU coach.
Did the IRP do a good job doubling the suspension of Will Wade?
The IRP has shown the ability to look at the fact that McNeese State decided to make an internal suspension for Will Wade but decided it was not enough.
The media and social media users were going to criticize the decision either way as Wade already lost his job with LSU, and many think that was enough. However, the five games felt like underwhelming as that was nowhere near enough of a punishment to fit the NCAA violations.
McNeese State was trying to get ahead of the punishment, similar to what the Memphis Grizzlies did with point guard Ja Morant when they suspended him for eight games and the NBA allowed that to be his initial punishment. Why wouldn't the university attempt to do the same thing for an issue that did not happen on their watch?
The Independent Resolution Panel has to be given credit for its ability to not allow the public outcry to become an issue and instead hand down a longer punishment. LSU is also being punished with most being retroactive so the Tigers are not off the hook for firing Wade as they benefitted from his unethical conduct.
The IRP just made a home run of a ruling in this case.