If You Think LSU's Will Wade Shouldn't Coach Again This Season Because Of 'Offer' Allegations You're A Moron

I think by now you heard the story. If not yesterday Yahoo put out this report:

A 2017 phone conversation intercepted by the FBI between LSU coach Will Wade and basketball middleman Christian Dawkins features Wade speaking freely about a “strong-ass offer” he made in the recruitment of a prospect, Yahoo Sports has learned.

On part of the call, Wade expresses frustration that a third party affiliated with the recruitment had yet to accept Wade’s “offer.” Instead, a verbal commitment to LSU was being delayed because Wade theorized he hadn’t given the third party a big “enough piece of the pie in the deal” and instead “tilted” the offer toward the player and his mother.

“I was thinking last night on this Smart thing,” Wade said. “I’ll be honest with you, I’m [expletive] tired of dealing with the thing. Like I’m just [expletive] sick of dealing with the [expletive]. Like, this should not be that [expletive] complicated.”

There is no elaboration on what the “Smart thing” is. Javonte Smart is currently a freshman guard at LSU and formerly a top-50 recruit from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Naturally it led to a ton of takes, because that’s what people do. Well, I have a take on those takes.

You’re an absolute moron if you think LSU should sit Will Wade for the rest of the season. Allow me to elaborate, because obviously calling someone a moron without some background is just plain mean and I’m not mean. You can’t be mean in March.

First, by sitting Will Wade you’re admitting guilt. Why would you do that? We’ve seen schools fight the NCAA and force them to figure out a punishment or issue a punishment than just admitting guilt and running. We still have no idea what the NCAA is going to find out or what’s even happening. LSU is in the middle of a hell of a season. Why would you disrupt that now? Guess what? We still all know Louisville won the 2013 NCAA Tournament and the same will be said about LSU if they win in 2019 and something happens.

Second, people who are saying Wade needs to sit out are forgetting something. If a player is found guilty in this scenario, the season is already vacated. So sitting Will Wade doesn’t resolve that. Blame the NCAA rulebook if you don’t like that rule. But, the fact is you sit the player first, not the coach. You vacate games with ineligible players. That’s why we saw USC sit out De’Anthony Melton last year. That’s why we saw Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy not play at Auburn. That’s why Brian Bowen never played. That’s why Silvio De Sousa isn’t playing (but Bill Self is coaching).

Third, we still don’t have 100% proof of what happened. Yes he was on a wiretap discussing ‘an offer’ for what appears to be Javonte Smart. As far as I know there’s nothing specifically saying it’s money. Think about it. You can call and say the offer is guaranteeing a starting spot. The offer is playing with Naz Reid. Whatever it might be, I don’t read where there’s an offer for money. Obviously it’s implied, but again, if you’re not admitting guilt here why would you come out and say that?

As for the LSU side they have some easy outs too. Remember, LSU had a player MURDERED before the season started in September. They can say look at what Wade has done to bring this group together and guide them through a tough time. We’re investigating what’s going on with the situation but as of now there’s nothing to be concerned about.

Save me the high horse of ‘he’s molding young men.’ His job is to win games. Sure, you don’t want to be a complete dick and horrible person, but the job of a college basketball coach at a high major level is to win games. That’s what Will Wade is doing this year.

So, yeah, I expect Wade to be coaching on Saturday as LSU tries to win a SEC title. I also won’t care that he’s out there coaching. That’s his job.