UTC men’s basketball coach Will Wade directs players during the Mocs’ SoCon basketball game against the UNCG Spartans on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga.The rumors have begun.
Half of March Madness is about the teams fighting for an NCAA national basketball championship. The other half is about coaches being fired and new coaches subsequently being hired. The speculation as to whom a program will hire runs rampant on message boards and social media.
One name already coming up is University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s coach Will Wade.
The Mocs’ second-year coach has been linked to the coaching vacancy at UNC Charlotte, which competes in Conference USA. The Charlotte Observer reported Monday that Wade was set to interview with the school later this week.
Previous head coach Alan Major and the program parted ways after the 2014-15 season. He had three seasons left in a contract that paid him $450,000 annually. The 49ers finished 14-18 and 7-11 in the conference, falling 63-60 to Middle Tennessee State in the C-USA tournament’s first round.
Gary Parrish, a senior writer at CBS Sports who covers college basketball, said on a recent “Eye on College Basketball” podcast that he has heard Wade’s name connected to Charlotte for a while.
“The name bouncing around that one, and really has been for two months, is Will Wade of Chattanooga,” Parrish said. “I’ve heard that name connected to that job, literally for two months.”
Parrish said another name he’s heard connected is North Carolina Central coach LeVelle Moten, who has led the Eagles to a 103-51 record in five seasons. His 2013-14 team went 28-6 and advanced to the NCAA tournament, and his current team has won 25 games and will play at Miami in the National Invitation Tournament tonight.
Wade, who currently makes $187,000 per year, received an extension from UTC after the 2013-14 season.
“We believe in him, and he’s good, and it’s no secret that good people get found,” UTC athletic director David Blackburn said at the time of the extension last year. “If he continues to show that he knows what he’s doing, then there will be other schools pursuing him. We knew that when we hired him.
“That was my hope, because that means he’s done a good job here.”
When Wade was reached Monday by the Times Free Press, he had no comment.
In his two seasons at UTC, the 32-year-old Wade has led the Mocs to a 40-25 record and two second-place finishes in the Southern Conference regular season. He was the conference coach of the year in 2014 and followed that by going 22-10 this season, with a 4-4 record against teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament. The Mocs have won 27 games in conference play under Wade, a record for any UTC coach in his first two seasons.
The biggest black mark on his resume is an 0-2 record in the conference tournament, which includes a 69-67 loss to 10th-seeded Furman this year. The Paladins advanced to the tournament final before losing to Wofford.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.