Laila Bush
Will Wade smiles and claps during the press conference inside the Reynolds Coliseum on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. NC State introduced Will Wade as its 21st head coach in program history.
“Our time is right now.”
The words echoed around the empty Reynolds Coliseum, closed for men’s basketball head coach Will Wade’s introductory press conference. The claim was bold. Wade hadn’t even been on campus for 24 hours, and he claimed that NC State’s time had arrived — the same NC State team that missed the ACC Tournament for the first time in conference history.
But Wade didn’t back down from his claims; he doubled down.
“I wanna be very clear, this is not a rebuild,” Wade said. “We’re gonna be in the top part of the ACC next year and we’re going to the NCAA Tournament.”
Wade’s hiring didn’t just mean a coaching change or a different program; it signaled a culture shift. A change in mentality. Why aim for just a tournament berth when you can aim to be one of the top teams in the country?
He didn’t even have a roster, yet he claimed that NC State would be competing at the highest level in March. It’s rare to see this type of confidence in college basketball, let alone from a new coach without a team.
Throughout the offseason, Wade built his roster. It was slow at first — a couple of guys he brought along from McNeese State, two four-star transfers. But blink and you would’ve missed it. Wade brought in five-star transfer Darrion Williams, former UNC-Chapel Hill big man Ven-Allen Lubin and a few highly touted overseas prospects. By the time it was all said and done, NC State had the No. 13 transfer class in the nation, according to ESPN.
At NC State men’s basketball’s media day in September, players were asked the same question: Why NC State? Without hesitation, every player gave the same answer: Will Wade. They know the mentality and toughness that he brings to the program. It’s not about having fun, it’s about making a statement.
“High expectations, but that’s what comes with the territory,” Williams said. “[Wade] said, ‘If you don’t want to win, don’t come here.’ That’s what he told me the first time we talked. He’s himself the whole time; he doesn’t change.”
When it came to his own media day press conference, Wade took the same stance he had taken six months prior.
“We’re red. Blood is red, not blue,” Wade said. “It’s gonna be a reckoning for the ACC and for college basketball.”
Between UNC, Duke and the occasional NC State appearance, the state of North Carolina is the mecca of college basketball, so the jab at the sport’s iconic Blue Bloods was noticeable. But the statement proves something else. Wade doesn’t care about the past, about NC State’s tournament-missing season or even its Final Four appearance the year before. He doesn’t care about all-time records against Tobacco Road rivals or program achievements.
“We don’t just want to compete, we want to win,” said NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan. “And we want to win big.”
Corrigan hit the jackpot hiring Wade because winning is the only thing on his mind.
Wade isn’t just making up these claims out of thin air or pure bias. The expectations for NC State are extremely high. Both on paper and through the media polls, the bar for NC State should be top four in the ACC, with respect given to a loaded Blue Devils program, a strong Louisville squad and Hubert Davis’ Tar Heels. Gone should be the days of questioning whether an NCAA Tournament appearance is in the cards or whether the Pack would even contend in the ACC.
Even top basketball analysts like Jon Rothstein see the potential that Wade’s Wolfpack has.
“Will Wade has flipped multiple programs during his career as a head coach,” Rothstein said in a September X post. “NC State’s return to relevance feels like an inevitability.”
Fortune favors the bold, and nobody has been bolder in the offseason than Wade.
Now, with an exhibition game this week and the start of the regular season less than two weeks away, it’s time for Wade to back up his claims, and history leans in his favor. Across his time as a head coach of four basketball programs, Wade has won 70 percent of his games. For comparison, in former head coach Kevin Keatts’ time at NC State, he won just 57 percent.
Wade has also clinched an NCAA Tournament berth in each of his last five seasons, headlined by arguably the biggest upset of last year’s tournament when No. 12 McNeese State downed No. 5 Clemson, his alma mater.
Wade isn’t the only new member of the Pack with March Madness experience. That No. 13 transfer class he brought in has 549 minutes logged in an NCAA Tournament game, over 200 more minutes than the next closest ACC team.
“Put our team together with an emphasis on being able to win, being able to win in March,” Wade said. “We have the most NCAA Tournament minutes of any team in the ACC on our roster.”
After months of hype, the Red Reckoning is here. The bar has been set high for NC State, but Wade seeks to soar far above it.