RALEIGH, N.C. — Will Wade and the LSU administration did what they could to avoid talking about N.C. State during Wade’s introductory press conference Monday afternoon in Baton Rouge, La.

Neither LSU President Wade Rousse nor Athletic Director Verge Ausberry mentioned Wade’s one-year stop in Raleigh, N.C. They spoke of his first stint at LSU and two years at McNeese State, where Wade, Rousse and new senior advisor Heath Schroyer all worked together.

Wade didn’t, either, until pressed by a reporter. He was asked when the process of leaving N.C. State began, and if there were regrets about the unexpected manner in which he left after claiming on multiple occasions he would return to the Wolfpack.

The former Wolfpack head coach, stuttering through his answer, said he has “familiarity with everybody” — Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry reportedly played a part in Wade returning to the Tigers — but said there wasn’t a formal interview process. He also claimed the process “kicked into gear” last Wednesday.

“That was pretty much when first contact was made,” Wade said. “That was when the process started, but because of everybody’s familiarity with everybody, with each other, it moved pretty quick.”

Wade’s version of events was different from the picture painted by N.C. State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan. Corrigan reportedly received an email from Wade’s agent Wednesday morning, providing notification of Wade’s resignation. Before that, Wade was rumored to be in consideration for the LSU job, and other reports claim this move was in the works for much longer.

Wade did not initially address whether he regretted the manner of his departure, which was criticized by Corrigan and other members of the N.C. State community. When pressed for his opinion about possibly being a “villain” in college basketball, Wade did provide an answer.

“I long ago quit worrying about my perception,” Wade said. “That part doesn’t, doesn’t bother me too much.”

That reply was met with cheers.

Wade continued by saying he’d “like to focus more on what’s going on at LSU,” despite several comments about his time at McNeese.

“N.C. State was great to me,” Wade said, though he never explicitly thanked Corrigan or the university like he did with McNeese one year ago. “I think some of the things have been mischaracterized on how I left. … I learned long ago, I’m not going to get into a back and forth on all of that. The people who need to know, know.

“When there’s a situation like this, everybody has to cover, let’s put it that way. I’m at peace with how I left. I’m at peace with what we did. They’re pretty mad for a coach they didn’t think was very good.”

Wade said he wishes N.C. State “nothing but the best” and had a good relationship with Corrigan. The former coach also said he wishes Justin Gainey, the expected new coach, “nothing but success.” N.C. State has not formally announced Gainey’s hire.

Watching a repeat

Aside from the few comments about N.C. State, Wade’s news conference Monday felt like watching a replay of the one held at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum one year ago.

Wade wore a striped tie, this time in purple, and walked into the PMAC with his wife and daughter between both parents. They, too, wore similar outfits — Lauren Wade in a boutique dress with tigers printed on the fabric and Caroline in a purple dress, instead of Wolfpack red.

The similarities didn’t end there.

Wade’s speech and his answers to questions from reporters were similar to what he said during his introduction at N.C. State. When discussing his aspirations for the program and the university, Wade didn’t switch things up.

Here are comparisons between what he told LSU supporters this week compared to what he said to the N.C. State community last March.

On being a ‘better’ coach

LSU: “You’re not getting the same coach you had four years ago. These last four years have humbled and changed me. You’re getting a better coach, a better leader this time around. I got the same urgency, I got the same fight, same feisty guy that you always know, but we’re going to be better.”

N.C. State: “You’re going to get that same passion and competitive fire that I had at LSU, without all the arrogance that got me in trouble. I’ve grown and matured since then, and you’re going to get the best version of me here at N.C. State.”

On the speed of success and program goals

LSU: “This program is meant to be great. This program is meant to compete at the highest levels of college basketball, night in and night out. As we say down here, ‘It just means more.’ That highly competitive, winning program, I know what that program looks like. I’ve seen it, I lived it, and I know how to build it the right way.

“We’re going to be rooted in aggression, we’re going to be rooted in toughness, we’re going to be rooted in discipline, and we’re going to recruit competitors that want to play that way.

“We’re going to build a winning program, and we’re going to build this thing quick. This is not something that’s going to take long.

“Make no mistake, this is home. I wasn’t born in Louisiana, but Louisiana is home for me and me and my family. We’re coming back to make history. We’re going to make history one way or the other. We’re coming back to try to hang a banner, win a national championship, or I’m going to be the first coach fired from the same school twice.”

N.C. State: “I want to be very clear, this is not a rebuild. We’re going to be in the top part of the ACC next year. We’re going to the NCAA Tournament. This is not something that’s going to take a long time. This will be done the right way, and this is going to be done quickly. We are here to win. We’re here to win the right way, and we’re going to be aggressive.

“We’re going to hit the ground running. We cannot wait to get started to build a consistent winner that’s consistently at the top of the ACC, consistently in the NCAA Tournament and consistently competing for the national championship here at N.C. State.”

The SEC vs. the ACC and what players to recruit

LSU: “I have a familiarity with the SEC. The first year, it took some getting used to. The SEC has gotten even better. We’ve done some studies on it the last couple days to make sure that we’re prepared and understand what we need to compete.

“The first thing you got to have is good players. It’s the horse, it’s not the jockey. You got to have the right players. We got to get really good athletes. We understand specifically what translates to the SEC from the portal, and what translates at each position from the portal. We know what we’ve got to go get, and we’re going to go recruit those guys and get those guys. [The] SEC is a tough neighborhood. There’s no question about that. It’s a tough neighborhood, but we’re going to build a team that’s ready to go into that tough neighborhood.”

N.C. State: “The ACC is one of the premier basketball conferences in the country, and we’ve got to hold up our end of the bargain. N.C. State, in my opinion, is one of the major brands in this league. And for ACC basketball to be good, N.C. State basketball needs to be good. That’s what we’re going to do. I think the better we are, the better the league will be. … We’ve got some bully neighbors and that sort of thing, but we’re not worried about them.

“It’s the horse. It’s not the jockey. You’re only as good as the players. We’ve got everything that we need to go attract the best players in the country.”

Setting up his support staff

LSU: “We’re going to have our shell recruiting staff in place here in the next; hopefully by the first of next week. I would think we’ll have two to three assistants, and then we’re going to leave a couple spots open, and work through that as we move forward. We’ll have two or three folks in here.”

N.C. State: “We’ll have the shell of the staff set, hopefully, by later this week, early next week. I would say, after the Final Four, middle of April, we should have, we should have the full staff close to complete.”

How Wade is addressing players currently on the roster

LSU: “I’ve had some one-on-one meetings with five or six of the guys. We had a lot of seniors last year, so there’s quite a few guys who can’t come back, but I’ve met with five or six of the guys that are in town. We want anybody at LSU that wants to be at LSU. If you want to be here, we want you here.”

“We want folks that, like I said, are excited about LSU. We’ve had those conversations, those conversations will continue, and we’re going to support the guys whatever they want to do. Whatever they want to do. They want to stay here at LSU, we’re going to support them and find a role for them, and if they want to go somewhere else, we’re going to support them in that as well.”

N.C. State: “I told them, ‘Hey, you put your name in the portal. We’re still going to meet.’ We want guys who want to be at N.C. State. We want people that are excited about being at N.C. State, excited about what we’re about to do, and the road that we’re getting ready to take. Whoever that is, we’ll coach them and love them up and get them ready to compete at the top of the ACC.

“We’re not bringing anybody in, player, coach, anybody, that doesn’t feel like this is the best place in the country, and it doesn’t feel like we can win and win extremely big and fast.”

The university’s commitment to men’s basketball

LSU: “I wouldn’t be standing here if we weren’t committed. We came back to win, and we’ve got, we’ve got tremendous administration, we’ve got tremendous people, and we’re going to win. We’ve got the resources that we need to compete in the SEC. At the end of the day, that’s all we can ask. Then it’s on me to get the job done. It’s on me to make it happen. I’m very comfortable after our conversations with everybody that we’ve got the resources that we’re going to need to compete in the SEC.”

N.C. State: “I think the commitment from our collective, the commitment from the revenue share standpoint, from Boo and his staff is just phenomenal. We’re going to be competitive at the upper end of this league, and we’re going to be competitive nationally with our NIL packages and with the revenue sharing. We don’t have to have the most. … This is about being able to efficiently use the resources that we have, and we’re going to have enough resources to officially build a very, very good basketball team in short order.”

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