WATCH: Jon Rothstein talks Will Wade situation, says NC State job soon to be open, Schertz may be off the table (TRANSCRIPT)

So now we look somewhere else in the triangle, and it’s something that I was able to report just before we got on the air. Because we know North Carolina is open, and I’ll tell you this much, a job down the road is soon to be open, from everything I’ve gathered.

LSU is working to hire McNeese A.D. Heath Schroyer as a senior administrator. That deal is being worked on right now. Now why do I say that? Obviously, as a precursor to what I’m going to say now.

Heath Schroyer was the A.D. at McNeese who decided that he wanted to bring Will Wade back to college basketball after Will Wade was fired from LSU. The president who was also at McNeese during that time, Wade Rousse, is now the president of LSU. So the president and the A.D. who hired Will Wade when he was out of coaching at McNeese are now fully aligned at LSU as long as everything gets done with Heath Schroyer on his side.

I am not saying right now as of 1:17 ET on Wednesday, that the LSU job is open because it’s not. And I am not somebody who is a rumors and speculation type reporter. But I will say this, all signs are pointing now that the LSU job is going to be open and they’re going to part ways with Matt McMahon, and Will Wade is definitely on the verge of going back to Baton Rouge as LSU’s head coach in what would be one of the more incredible, incredible reunions that we have seen in quite some time.

LSU, when Will Wade was there from 2017 to 2022, had incredible success in men’s basketball, but obviously was also in the news for a lot of off-the-court issues that Wade was in the center of during the FBI scandal. And now, about four years later, after he was fired, there is major, major momentum to a reunion. And it’s not just major, major momentum to a reunion.

I’m telling you, barring something unforeseen, Will Wade is going to be the next coach of LSU. They are not going to fire Matt McMahon and do a national search. They are firing Matt McMahon to hire Will Wade.

And getting Heath Schroyer in place, which again, the deal isn’t done yet, but they’re working to finalize it, getting that in place is going to give Will Wade the affirmation he needs to leave NC State after one year and go be the coach at LSU. And if Will Wade goes back to LSU, he’s going back to go to the Final Four. He’s going back to win the SEC.

And now, we again, are very, very close to not having just one job in the triangle open, but two. And I think this could happen in the next couple of hours, and definitely in the next couple of days, that North Carolina and NC State could both be open. And that creates an incredible, incredible dynamic in the triangle.

NC State obviously got back to national relevance this year under Will Wade. Kevin Keats did a great job taking this program to the Final Four in 2024, missed the NCAA Tournament in 2025. They brought in Will Wade to reinvigorate the fan base, and he did that, and they got to the NCAA Tournament.

But now, that Heath Schroyer and Wade Rousse, the president and the AD, who brought him to McNeese are in place in Baton Rouge, a reunion of epic proportions is in the cards. And LSU, again, a program that since Will Wade has left, has not been nationally relevant, is about to be nationally relevant. LSU with Will Wade is a program that you are going to see on your social media feed all April and May, involved with some of the best transfers in the country.

LSU is a program that you are going to hear about when people talk about the top of the SEC and the best rosters in the SEC. And I don’t know who they’re getting yet, but I can tell you this, they are going to put together a team that is going to be worthy, worthy of being in a situation where it’s going to be ranked in the top 25 to start next season. And again, all the different layers to this presents an incredible, an incredible turn of events and a very difficult situation for NC State, who’s going to have to get ready to do a head coaching search for the second time in as many seasons.

I don’t like to comment on jobs that aren’t open right now. I never like to do that. But the parting of the ways between LSU and Matt McMahon feels imminent. And Will Wade’s official return is going to come, I believe, in a matter of days to Baton Rouge.

What could be next for NC State? I would keep an eye on Tennessee assistant Justin Gainey, who was obviously an alum who was involved with the job last time. I would also keep an eye on some other guys you’re hearing.

Depending on where things go, obviously, you know, over the next couple of days in terms of who gets what jobs. But I will say this, this is a backbreaking, backbreaking type development for NC State. Backbreaking. Because now you’re in a scenario where you made a hire that made yourself nationally relevant and he’s leaving in a year.

Josh Schertz at St. Louis, I would think would be somebody that would have taken the NC State job before he signed his extension. He’s making over $3 million a year right now at St. Louis. And I don’t care what anybody says, nobody, and I mean nobody, is taking a job in any profession where you’re taking a pay cut. And Will Wade wasn’t making all that much money at NC State. But a lot, a lot is going to change in the triangle, in short order.