Getting To Know New Men’s Basketball Coach Wade

For nearly 4,000 consecutive days, new NC State men’s basketball coach Will Wade has awakened early, laced up a pair of running shoes and gone for a daily jog, somewhere between 1 to 4 miles.

He keeps up with his 10-year-plus streak through a friend and fellow runner who serves as his accountability coach, carefully recording the day, time and length of the run.

The physical and mental fitness habit started when he coached in the hills near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and continued through permanent jobs in Virginia and Louisiana. He’s run in all parts of the country as he’s traveled for games, recruiting trips and vacations.

“It’s been a good way for getting around and just developing a familiarity with all my surroundings,” says Wade, who was hired as NC State’s 21st men’s coach on March 22 after three successful seasons at McNeese State.

These days, his daily outings have taken him up and down Hillsborough Street, where he waves to Wolfpack students, fans, faculty and fellow staff members as he settles into the coaching chair once held by multiple halls of fame coaches and championship winners.

It’s a little easier at the moment, because his wife and daughter are still in Louisiana waiting to finish the academic year, but he’ll continue to do it once they arrive in Raleigh this summer, on into the fall when practice begins and throughout the winter in the heart of basketball season as a way to learn even more about the city his family will eventually call home.

“I had been to Raleigh and to NC State a dozen or so times before, but now I’m becoming more familiar with it and can see just what a tremendous city, with a great quality of life, it has,” says the Nashville, Tennessee, native and Clemson graduate. “I see why so many people love it.”

Since one of his primary duties at NC State is recruiting young players and prospective students, whether they are high school recruits or transfer portal players coming from other schools, he’s learned about the special places on campus that might make them feel at home.

One of his favorite places to take them, besides the basketball facilities at the Dail Basketball Center, Reynolds Coliseum and the Lenovo Center, is the Free Expression Tunnel, one of 10 NC State Hallowed Places where students often congregate and NC State’s personality comes to life.

He also enjoys showing off his office and the hallways of the Dail complex, which has trophy cases and displays that highlight Wolfpack success globally, nationally and locally, from its NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference championships to more than two dozen All-Americans and individual stars.

My hobbies are pretty much running and reading. The other 16 to 18 hours of every day are devoted to basketball.

“Everybody has a good NC State basketball story to tell — how it impacted them during their childhood or how it impacted different points in their life,” he says. “What’s been exciting for me is to dig into those stories and learn about how and why it made such an impact.

“That part has been pretty cool.”

For Wade, a lifelong learner, digging into history is part of his coaching and personal DNA. His mom was a school principal for 30 years, and he was a high school history teacher, specializing in the Civil War and civil rights, before he made a career leap into coaching.

His expertise includes deep knowledge of Abraham Lincoln, though he won’t get into the mythology that the 16th president was born in western North Carolina.

Despite all the changes in college athletics, which now rely on an annual full roster turnover, Wade sells the value of education to the dozen or so players he and his staff have recruited for their first team.

“At the end of the day, the statistics show that you are better off with a college degree than not,” Wade says. “That’s a part of what we sell. And as much as we want to recruit players that are the right fit in basketball, we want to make sure that their values align with what is important to our program, what’s important to our school and our academics.”

All 12 of next year’s players are enrolled in the first summer school session.

“Academics is the price of admission to play basketball,” he says. “It is an important piece of the whole process.”

Wade practices that as well. In addition to running, Wade keeps his mind sharp with a vigorous reading schedule. He receives a book bag with five suggested books every week and usually chooses to tackle at least one. He also subscribes to multiple motivational emails on topics such as mental health, business development, performance improvement and self-help.

On his bedside table at the moment? The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom.

“My hobbies are pretty much running and reading,” Wade says. “The other 16 to 18 hours of every day are devoted to basketball.”