LSU Basketball: Tigers should stick with Will Wade as their head coach

LSU Basketball is in a real pickle with their head coach Will Wade on leave. Will the Tigers stick with him or cut bait going forward?

In the past 30 years, there have been only a few seasons where LSU Basketball was part of the national discussion. The one that went to the Sweet 16 in 2000, Glen Davis’s 2006 squad that went to the Final Four and the 27-win team back in 2009. But outside of the disastrous Ben Simmons year, the Tigers have been towards the back of the SEC.

It forced the program to get rid of Johnny Jones and hire former VCU Head Coach Will Wade, coming off back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament. He was known for his ability to recruit and develop players, areas LSU badly needed to improve on. And after a solid first year at 18-15, the Tigers got much better, starting out 25-5 and winning the SEC regular season outright.

But things turned drastically in a negative way for the young coach. The FBI Investigation involving illegal recruiting benefits has cast a shadow all over NCAA Basketball and now reached the Bayou and the Tigers. Reports came out that Coach Wade was on wiretap discussing a potential payment with Ja’Vonte Smart, a top-35 freshman player on the team.

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The school elected to keep him out and conduct their own investigation. Wade didn’t want to fully cooperate with the school pending a subpoena to testify in an upcoming trial but did make a case for his return while the process played out. LSU Basketball decided to have assistant Tony Benford coach the team in both the SEC and NCAA Tournament. He went 3-2 in those games, with the highlight being the close victory over Maryland to make the Sweet 16. Who knows if the Tigers would’ve beaten Michigan State had Wade been around.

While the Final Four has yet to be played, it’s officially the off-season for LSU. Underclassmen such as Smart, Tremont Waters, Naz Reid and Emmitt Williams all have decisions to make regarding the NBA Draft. But the biggest decision will have to come from the University regarding Wade’s future with the program. As of now, he’s not with the team but they’ll have to make a move to not leave themselves in limbo. There’s also no real timetable regarding the investigations and potential punishments by NCAA so who knows how long the school will have to wait.

If I was LSU officials, I’d hold off as long as I possibly could with Wade at the helm and force the NCAA to get rid of him themselves. Other coaches named in the ongoing FBI saga such as Sean Miller of Arizona and Bill Self of Kansas haven’t been touched and it’s unlikely that something happens to either. So why should the Tigers can Wade beforehand?

And the reality is, LSU Basketball is not a program that traditionally contends in an SEC that has gotten exponentially better. Tennessee, Kentucky, and Auburn are top-25 teams, while Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Florida, and South Carolina are true threats. Alabama just hired a quality mid-major head coach in Nate Oats and Georgia brings in the No. 1 ranked recruit in the 2019 class in Anthony Edwards to pair up with a good frontcourt. If LSU takes a dip, they could fall a ways in the conference.

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Although some assistants have been fired and prosecuted during this entire saga, no head coach has gotten the axe. Until that starts happening, there’s no reason why LSU should make the move themselves this offseason by getting rid of Wade. They bought themselves some time by taking him out the rest of this season and can wait out the clock in the next few months. If nothing noteworthy happens, the Tigers will be fine in keeping their head coach.

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