12 potential candidates to replace Will Wade at NC State

It’s a situation that the folks in Raleigh didn’t expect they’d be in, but the reality is that NC State has been thrust into another head coaching search. Barely twelve months after bringing Will Wade to town, the Wolfpack are hunting again after Wade spurned them and headed back to LSU, beginning another nationwide search for coaching stability.

The recent years have been a real rollercoaster for NC State, who had that shocking and miraculous run to the ACC title and Final Four in 2024 before bottoming out the following season. That failure cost Kevin Keatts his job despite the previous March success and brought Will Wade to town. Wade’s lone season in Raleigh was decent, with 20 wins, 7th place in the ACC, and a trip to the First Four in Dayton before bowing out and skipping town.

When Wade was hired last season and signed to a 6-year contract, many expected that NC State might just have the coach to lead them back into national prominence. After all, Duke and North Carolina really steal the local headlines and ACC success. Instead, Wade quickly leaves yet another school for an LSU gig that’ll give him better pay and more NIL possibilities, though the Wolfpack aren’t exactly going to cry over it all.

Athletic director Boo Corrigan begins another head coaching hunt and will have a variety of options much like he had last spring as well. We’ll be looking at a decent list of potential candidates, with a few the same from our list released last season. NC State has the tools to be a viable contender in the ACC if they nail this hire and they’ll certainly hope to grab someone who’ll actually commit to the school. Let’s get right into what’s effectively a laundry list of potential names.

Flynn Clayman

The coaching profile for Clayman has certainly taken a massive step forward since NC State’s job was last open twelve months ago. The Los Angeles native played for Colorado State and Troy and spent several years on staff with Southern Utah, but it’s been his work in North Carolina at High Point that’s grabbed attention. He aided Alan Huss in turning the program around and just took the Panthers to 31 wins and an NCAA Tournament upset over Wisconsin in his first-ever season as a head coach. Clayman clearly doesn’t have a ton of experience but it’s hard to argue with those quick results.

Justin Gainey

The familiar son who’s not likely to bolt quickly, Gainey played point guard at NC State in the late 90’s and began his coaching career as an operations director in the late 2000’s. Since then he’s spent nearly two decades working at seven different D1 programs, including prominent work at Arizona, Marquette, and Tennessee. Gainey doesn’t have any head coaching experience but the former Wolfpack point guard has been Tennessee’s associate head coach for four seasons and been a big asset for Rick Barnes during a successful era in Knoxville. It’s be quite a jump but an alum could really spark things for this program.

Eric Konkol

While he might not get the attention as some of these other candidates, Konkol is suddenly a name that should be out there even more. The Wisconsin native is a former ACC assistant at Miami, spending more than a decade of his career under Jim Larranaga both there and at George Mason. As a head coach, he has more than a decade of experience, with solid work at both Louisiana Tech and Tulsa. As things currently stand, he has Tulsa in the semifinals of the NIT, though the clear negative is that Konkol has yet to lead a team to the Big Dance and might not yet be ready for a job like this.

Phil Martelli Jr.

It seems like some sort of a ritual that VCU head coaches end up departing for power conference jobs and one day Martelli likely joins that list. A longtime former assistant, including for his dad at Saint Joseph’s, Martelli has only been a head coach for three seasons, leading Bryant to the Big Dance before getting VCU to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his first season in Richmond. Whether or not he’d be willing to leave the Rams after just one season, he’s another name probably lower on NC State’s list but definitely a rising coach worth looking at with this success.

Bob Richey

Potentially one of the most solid names on these lists, Richey just seems ready for his opportunity at a higher level. He’s been coaching at Furman for more than a decade and has been head coach since 2017, taking the Paladins to a ton of wins in the SoCon alongside two trips to the Big Dance. He famously led Furman to that upset over Virginia a few seasons ago and the SoCon has produced numerous power conference coaches in recent years. After nine years in Greenville, could he build that longterm success in Raleigh?

Brooks Savage

At just 40 years old, Savage is another young coach considered a name on the rise, though he’s an interesting though for NC State’s opening. He has ACC experience, having worked recently on the Wake Forest staff, and he’s been solid as a head coach. Savage took over at East Tennessee State in 2023 and is fresh off a regular season title in the SoCon. While Savage has yet to lead the Buccaneers or any team to the NCAA Tournament, the Tennessee alum has a unique blend of experience and potential even if this might be too big a jump for him right now.

Josh Schertz

It’s not all about the young coaches on the rise who have yet to prove themselves as Schertz has certainly done that here in recent weeks. He built a powerhouse at the D2 level with Lincoln Memorial and has a pretty prosperous half decade as a D1 coach, taking Indiana State to the NIT title game before leading Saint Louis for these last two seasons. His Billikens reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament this year and he seems primed for the next big step in his coaching career. Whether or not Schertz would leave after just two seasons, he did recently sign an extension and it’s all about how big NC State wants to spend to lure him to the ACC.

Takayo Siddle

Siddle checks a lot of boxes for the Wolfpack and could be a sneaky good hire in the long run. He’s not just a North Carolina native, he coached for NC State under Kevin Keatts before beginning his own head coaching career in 2020. Since then he’s turned UNC Wilmington around, winning a CBI title and making a trip to the NCAA Tournament over a prosperous stretch for the Seahawks. While there may be concern about hiring a disciple of a recently-fired coach, Siddle seems to be the real deal and some power conference program is going to snatch him up and have quite the hard worker on campus.

Tony Skinn

Twenty years ago, Skinn helped lead George Mason on that incredible run to the Final Four. He played overseas for a few years and has been a collegiate coach for more than a decade, starting off with prominent work at places like Seton Hall, Ohio State, and Maryland. Since 2023 he’s been back at his alma mater and George Mason has reaped those benefits, with 70 wins and a pair of trips to the NIT. Skinn hasn’t yet gotten the Patriots into the Big Dance but he’s another rising name in the coaching world that has recently worked on power conference staffs.

Preston Spradlin

We mentioned him in last year’s list and we’re still looking at what Spradlin could potentially bring to a program like NC State. His coaching career began as a grad assistant and operations director for John Calipari during some incredible seasons for Kentucky. Spradlin then headed to Morehead State, spending nearly 8 years as head coach with a few trips to the NCAA Tournament. Spradlin jumped to James Madison two seasons ago, winning the Sun Belt regular season crown in year one before a solid 18-win season this year. He’s probably less of a candidate than 12 months ago but Spradlin is still someone to watch, especially if this job opens again someday soon.

Travis Steele

Many eyes were on Steele and his Miami-Ohio team this season, but let’s not pretend his story just started in Oxford. A former Butler student and Ohio State grad assistant, Steele did much of his early coaching work at Xavier, rising from director of basketball operations all the way to head coach. He spent four rather forgettable seasons running the Musketeers before taking over the RedHawks in 2022. Steele just got Miami into the NCAA Tournament and won their First Four game and while the school is ready to invest in him, a sweet offer from NC State could change his mind in the long run.

Mike White

The inclusion of White isn’t random even after 11 years of power conference experience, as he has a personal connection to Corrigan, NC State’s athletic director. White played and coached at Ole Miss while Corrigan came up on his father’s staff at Notre Dame. White’s head coaching career has spanned 15 seasons across Louisiana Tech, Florida, and Georgia, notably taking the Gators to an Elite Eight and the Bulldogs to the last two NCAA Tournament. He hasn’t won a Tournament game yet with the Bulldogs but you can argue he might have peaked in Athens and is up for the challenge of winning in the ACC.