The No. 12 McNeese State Cowboys will take on the No. 5 Clemson Tigers in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are favored, entering with a 27-6 overall record and an impressive ACC resume, including the No. 5 seed in the Midwest region. But the Cowboys are hoping to pull off an upset on Thursday afternoon.
McNeese State, who earned an automatic bid after winning the Southland Conference, enters with the same record as Clemson. The Cowboys are coached by Will Wade, who is in his second season at McNeese. He’s led the Cowboys to consecutive NCAA Tournament berths so far.
Wade facing Clemson is particularly unique because the head coach actually has some legitimate history with the Tigers.
Did Will Wade go to Clemson?
Yep, he sure did. Wade graduated from Clemson in 2005. That same year, he started as a graduate assistant for the Tigers under then-Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell. He spent two seasons on Clemson’s staff before getting hired as an assistant at Harvard.
“I went to Clemson,” Wade said Sunday night via KPLC7Sports. “They are a team I follow closely. Football, basketball, baseball, all sports. It will be a tough matchup.”
“I was on staff there a couple years,” Wade continued. “I’ve been gone a long time. I follow the football team very closely, y’all all know that. We don’t practice when they play football. But I’ve been gone a long time. It’s a great palace, great people. I know a lot of folks there still. All my college friends I’m sure my phone will have some beautiful messages when I check them but yeah, it’s a great place, but once that ball goes up man I’m all McNeese.”
Here’s Wade’s staff photo from Clemson back in the day:
Will Wade coaching career
Wade was an assistant coach at Harvard from 2007-09 before joining VCU’s staff as an assistant from 2009-13. He got his first head coaching job at Chattanooga from 2013-15 before going back to VCU as the Rams’ head coach from 2015-17. He led VCU to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
He was hired by LSU in 2017 and spent six seasons with the Tigers. He led LSU to an SEC regular-season title in 2018-19, as well as three NCAA Tournament appearances.
In March 2022, Wade was fired from LSU after the school received a notice of allegations from the NCAA detailing several Level I violations involving the head coach. He served a two-year show-cause, and McNeese State is his first coaching stint since. He’s led the Cowboys to back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids over the last two years. He also is reportedly a top target for the open NC State job.
