Will Wade doesn't just have one foot out the door at McNeese, he's already all the way out as the Cowboys' head coach. Yet, Wade still has his team moving on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his last hurrah.
On Wednesday, just a day before McNeese was set to tip off its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, multiple reports surfaced that Wade already reached an agreement to become NC State's next head coach. And Wade was extremely open about those talks during his press conference leading up to the game, assuring he wasn't hiding anything from his players.
The next day, with a coach who already kissed the mid-majors goodbye, McNeese notched its first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
The 12-seed Cowboys beat the 5-seed Clemson Tigers, Wade's alma-mater, 69-67 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Providence, Rhode Island. Undistracted by all the distractions, McNeese came out and put up a 31-13 dominating halftime lead.
Down by as many as 24 points, the Tigers finally tried to mount a late comeback in the second half, but two points at the end of the game was as close as they got again.
Senior guard Brandon Murray started his career with Wade at LSU, then when Wade was fired because of alleged recruiting violations, Murray bounced to Georgetown then to Ole Miss. He then finally reunited with his old coach this season at McNeese.
Now beginning and ending things with Wade, Murray came off the bench and scored 21 points to assure Thursday wasn't the conclusion. Guard Quadir Copeland scored 16 and forward Christian Shumate put up 13 points from the starting lineup.
The Will Wade era at NC State will now be put on hold until at least Saturday, while his reign was extended at least another two days at McNeese.
The Cowboys will play 4-seed Purdue in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. A win for McNeese then would push the future of both programs back another week.